ENS co-founder Nick Johnson blocks Security Council renewal with 80% of votes

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) co-founder Nick Johnson is pushing back against community claims that he rigged a recent governance vote in his favor. The controversy stems from votes on renewing the ENS DAO’s Security Council, a 4-of-8 multisig body with limited powers to cancel malicious proposals in the DAO’s timelock. 

Johnson told The Block that his participation followed standard process and reflected substantive concerns rather than manipulation.

"There were two Security Council votes — the Snapshot vote followed by the executable vote. I abstained on the SC vote with a message explaining that I supported SC renewal but not with the current slate of members. I voted against the executable vote because nothing was done to address those concerns," Johnson told The Block in a direct message.

The votes involved two stages, including an initial off-chain Snapshot vote followed by an onchain executable proposal. The measure sought to renew the Security Council for another two-year term ahead of its current authority expiring on July 24, 2026, as well as other changes.

The Snapshot vote passed, but the executable onchain vote has not, and currently stands at 82% "no," with Johnson's significant voting share. The vote is set to officially close on July 5 at 8:59 PM.

In a comment on the voting platform, Johnson noted that "members of the current SC have made it clear that they intend to use their veto power to stop proposals they personally disagree with."

"The security council must exist as a backstop against compromise and violations of the ENS constitution, not as political officers," he added.

Community backlash

Community members have since criticized Johnson and the wider ENS Foundation. 

"The moral and usage implosion of ENS is a catastrophe for Ethereum," Brantly Millegan, a longtime ENS contributor who was controversially fired from ENS Labs several years ago, said on X, also posting screenshots showing that Johnson’s nick.eth address dominated the executable vote. 

"And with that, ENS DAO is dead," Rotki founder and longtime Ethereum commentator Lefteris Karapetsas said on X, referencing Johnson's voting concentration. (Of note, lefteris.eth would be rotated out of the Security Council due to his reported DAO inactivity, according to the vote.)

Johnson is estimated to hold around 3.26 million ENS tokens, representing roughly 80% of the ENS cast so far in the recent vote. These tokens represent about 50% of all ENS tokens currently delegated to any ENS delegate. 

"If a crisis like this is even remotely possible, it’s not good enough for Ethereum. ENS is done," Ethereum commentator colludingnode said on X, referencing the governance situation. He also updated his X profile to colludingnode.gwei, showcasing an alternative Ethereum address service for .gwei names.

ENS, founded in 2017, is a decentralized domain name system built on Ethereum and inspired by the internet's DNS system that allows users to register human-readable names (like yourname.eth) that resolve to Ethereum addresses, websites, content, or other data.

ENS Foundation proposal

The episode has intensified ongoing debates within the ENS DAO about governance centralization, voting power concentration, and decision-making processes. Critics have questioned Johnson’s influence, especially amid separate discussions about expanding the ENS Foundation’s role in treasury management.

Earlier this month, ENS Labs COO Katherine Wu submitted a temp check proposal looking to consolidate day-to-day treasury management, endowment oversight, grant administration duties, and other operations from the ENS DAO to the ENS Foundation, which is governed by a five-seat board including Johnson. 

Of note, Wu submitted another Security Council proposal on Tuesday to establish an eight-member successor council, arguing the current arrangement had granted "extraordinary power" to the SC. The new organization would still have the power to reverse DAO votes, but would require a stricter 5/8 approval threshold, up from the current 4/8.

In a comment on that proposal, which is seeking feedback up until July 3 at 11:59 PM UTC, Johnson said he agreed with "the new security council mandate and charter."

Earlier this year, ENS Labs canceled the launch of its bespoke Namechain Layer 2, which began development in 2024 to support the forthcoming ENSv2 update. That updated ENSv2 protocol, featuring hierarchical registries and other improvements, will deploy instead on the Ethereum mainnet.