Aragon
Its 2017 token sold out in minutes; in 2023 it offered to buy every one back
An Ethereum project building tools for member-run organizations, known as DAOs; this record covers its dissolved Aragon Association and retired ANT token, while the software continued.
- Capital raised (announced)
May 2017 ANT token sale; Aragon’s conversion of ETH receipts at the time.
- Sale participants (reported)
Aragon’s May 2017 count of unique buyers; it does not identify individual people.
- Active organizations
- Estimated
As of 30 October 2019, Aragon/Scout counted organizations with ≥20 DAI of vault value or ≥10 votes started since creation.
- ETH redeemed by token holders
- Estimated
Aragon’s final report for the window ending 2 November 2024; reported execution, distinct from the amount allocated.
- ANT redeemed
- Estimated
Aragon’s final report, 3 November 2024; share of ANT, not share of holders or claims.
Funding
| Round | Date | Announced | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANT token sale | 2017 | Not disclosed |
Announced is what was said at the time. Cash actually received is rarely disclosed and is not assumed to match.
People
| Name | Role | Period | Now | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luis Cuende | — | Exploring a venture studio or boutique fund around "freedom tools" | Oct 2026 |
Promises vs reality
Commitment
Aragon published the final redemption results after the window closed.
The reported token share is distinct from the number of participants.
A missed promise is a missed promise. It is not evidence of fraud, and this page does not treat it as any.
Timeline
17 May 2017
The sale closed before its advertised 14 June deadline.
30 October 2018
Version 0.6, Alba, let organizations use token, voting and finance applications with real assets.
30 October 2019
The project published a usage study with Scout; activity meant holding vault assets or having started votes, rather than recurring daily use.
March 2023
A rebuilt DAO framework and no-code app, which the project kept developing after the association dissolved.
2 November 2023
Holders were offered 0.0025376 ETH per ANT until 2 November 2024.
25 September 2024
The exchange converted clients' ANT to ETH through the redemption.
How it ended
The Aragon Association, the Swiss non-profit that held the project's treasury, resolved to dissolve itself and to let every ANT holder redeem tokens for ETH at a fixed rate for twelve months, after which the redeemed tokens would be burned and ANT would have no role in the project. It said bureaucratic complexity, misaligned stakeholders and failed attempts to change the governance had left a structure that could not be fixed. The software itself was handed to a new product-focused structure and kept being developed.
What happened next
- Recovery2 November 2024
The final report said unredeemed ETH would support a new Aragon Foundation and continued governance software. ANT would no longer have a role in the project.
Still alive
Open spot
Aragon is gone. Is your DAO tool still running?
Spotlight your project here.
Sources
13 sources behind this page.
- 1A New Chapter for the Aragon Project · Aragon · Nov 2023
- 2ANT Redemption Initiative Report · Aragon · Nov 2024
- 3Aragon by the numbers after one year on mainnet · Aragon · Aug 2020
- 4The Aragon token sale: the numbers · Aragon
- 5Aragon Association dissolves, tells holders to redeem ANT for ETH · CoinJournal · Nov 2023
- 6Aragon Association to dissolve, will disburse $155M in assets to tokenholders · Cointelegraph · Nov 2023
- 7Aragon blockchain platform raises $25 million in under 15 minutes in token sale · EconoTimes · May 2017
- 8Contributors to aragon/aragon · GitHub
- 9luisivan (Luis Cuende) on GitHub · GitHub · user-editable
- 10Important: Planned delisting of Aragon (ANT) · Kraken · Mar 2025
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- 11Luis Cuende · luis.com · user-editable
- 12Now · luis.com · user-editable
- 13Aragon Association Unwinds, Plans to Distribute $155 Million to ANT Holders · Unchained · Nov 2023
Every figure above is clickable and opens the sources behind it. Copies were stored when each source was read, so a citation still resolves after the page it came from is gone.