On January 12, Aragon One’s CEO Jorge Izquierdo announced his resignation.
The company is the parent company of the blockchain project Aragon, and the introduction information shows that it is “a blockchain enterprise that provides autonomous (DAO) solutions for online companies and decentralized organizations”.
Regarding the reasons for leaving, Jorge Izquierdo said that he was dissatisfied with the monopoly of the Aragon Association and the lack of transparency in governance and financial management.
As early as January 7, the Aragon team announced that 12 people had left the team, including John Light, who was responsible for the autonomous business of the project. He published an open letter on Githup, asking the Aragon Association to disclose its financials and meeting records for outside supervision. In addition, he also called for ANT (Aragon Network Token) holders to participate in community governance.
According to overseas media reports, on December 15 and 22 last year, the Aragon Association sold 520 million ETH, which was partially converted into USDT. These funds were the funds raised by the project’s ICO in 2017. The official explanation is that selling ETH assets is to achieve a better investment portfolio.
As a result, the Aragon Association sold out for less than a month, and ETH rose to a maximum of $1349. The “better portfolio” did not seem to materialize, and the Aragon Association lost money on ETH.
The Aragon Association, which advocates decentralized autonomy, was eventually accused by members of the parent company of bad governance and opaque finances, adding irony to the organization of DAO projects. After the core staff resigned from the team one after another, some insiders ridiculed that Aragon is “DAO not DAO”.
More than 10 people including CEO left the team dissatisfied with financial opacity
“I resigned from the position of CEO of Aragon One. I feel sorry for the problems that have arisen in the team. Considering that our proposal will not be implemented, I think I cannot continue to do better.” On January 12, Jorge Izquierdo posted a resignation statement on Twitter.
According to public information, Aragon is a project launched in 2016 to create a blockchain-based digital jurisdiction for online companies, especially decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Aragon One is the main operating entity behind Aragon Network (ANT) and the recipient of Aragon’s DAO Association (AA) grants.
Jorge Izquierdo explained that after months of busy work, he took a two-week break under the advice of a doctor. During his departure, the Aragon Association made a series of decisions (mainly related to management), “I don’t know how these decisions will be implemented, and I do not agree with these decisions.”
After the CEO resigned, Aragon One’s executive director, two chief legal officers and co-founders joined the board of directors.
According to its co-founder Luis Cuende, the biggest disagreement for CEO resignation lies in the governance of the association, especially the board of directors.
The disagreement did not occur in the past two days. As early as a week ago, on January 7, 12 team members announced their resignation due to the opaque financial management. Among them, John Light, who is mainly responsible for the governance of the Aragon community, released an open letter on Githup before leaving his post. He said, “I no longer understand where I used to work, and I believe it no longer reflects my values.”
This open letter revealed a message that the financial transparency of the Aragon Association is insufficient.
John Light said in an open letter that the Aragon Association used to have a reputation for transparency, but it has recently begun to lack publicity. He asked the Aragon Association to disclose all meeting records and financial reports for public review. In addition, he also proposed to allow ANT holders and contributors to participate more in the governance of the association.
According to foreign media reports, on December 15 and December 22 last year, about 52,000 of the ETH raised by the Aragon Association through ICO in 2017 went to the exchange, and part of it was converted into USDT.
Regarding the whereabouts of this fundraising, Izquierdo confirmed that these accounts are controlled by a multi-signature wallet jointly held by him and co-founder Cuende, but the association recently converted about 52,000 ETH into stable assets (mainly USDT) in order to make the project Diversified investment portfolio.
Non-trumpet shows, as of 3 pm on January 13, ANT temporarily reported $3.1, a 24-hour decline of 6%, and a decline of 11% in the past 7 days. From the perspective of currency price trends, ANT has basically maintained linkage with mainstream currencies such as BTC, and has not fallen sharply due to the team’s resignation issue.
Aragon Association sells ETH to make 30 million dollars less
Last December, the price of Bitcoin hit record highs one after another. The OKEx market shows that on December 31, Bitcoin rose to a maximum of 29,300 US dollars. Driven by Bitcoin, mainstream currencies such as ETH and LTC also started to rise. ETH rose to a maximum of $758 on December 31.
On December 15th and 22nd when the Aragon Association sold ETH, the highest ETH quotes on that day were $597 and $634 respectively. If calculated at the price of $634, 52,000 ETH can be exchanged for approximately $32.96 million.
ETH rose to a maximum of US$1,349 on January 10 this year. If calculated at this price, the value of ETH sold by the Aragon Association is approximately US$70.14 million.
Some people in the industry ridiculed that more than 10 people in the team left, probably because they were dissatisfied with the association’s early currency sales. On January 7th, on the day John Light and other 12 people left their jobs, ETH’s highest price was $1,250. Looking at it this way, the Aragon Association sold the foundation ETH and made a real loss, at least $30 million less.
In a foreign media report, Jorge Izquierdo also said in another statement, “Now I just want to say, I express my deepest respect to all the members of the Aragon One team who decided to keep. You are Argon people, but your losses There is no substitute.”
Public information shows that in May 2017, Aragon raised ETH worth about $25 million in ICO at the time. At that time, the price of ETH was about $150. If calculated at this price, Aragon raised about 166,000 ETH. In addition, the Aragon team also conducted two rounds of private fundraising with venture companies Draper Associates and Placeholder Ventures, raising approximately US$850,000.
In addition to the sale of the association ETH, Aragon’s recent major changes are mainly the acquisition of Dvote Labs OU, the parent company of the blockchain voting application Vocdoni in December last year.
Unlike Year.Finance’s agreement to aggregate SuShi, Aragon’s acquisition of Dvote Labs OU is an equity acquisition. But Joan Arús, the chief financial officer of the acquired application, revealed in an interview that members of the Vodcdi team received ANT from Aragon, but the exact amount was not announced.
There are also rumors outside that the resignation of core team members may be related to the differences in the association’s leading acquisition.
However, both John Light and Jorge Izquierdo, who have left, said that the acquisition was not the reason for their departure. “On the contrary, I tried my best to promote the change of the association so that the team will not leave, but these attempts have been ignored. .” Jorge Izquierdo explained in a public interview.
Aragon, who provided the DAO solution, had disagreements on the governance of the association itself, causing more than 10 people, including the CEO, to leave the team.
At present, what can be seen from public information is that the team’s differences are mainly in financial management. In the rising market, the association’s asset management strategy runs counter to the currency price trend, resulting in damage to the assets owned by the project.
In the capital market, large fluctuations in asset prices will not only make futures investors liquidate their positions, they can also cause a team to split up. And Aragon was criticized by the core team for financial opacity, which also added irony to the company that originally provided decentralized governance solutions.
