Abstract

Following the RFP process approved in EP2.2.4, the Meta-Governance Working Group stewards have selected a short list of potential fund managers for the DAO to elect to manage the ENS Endowment.

Specification

EP2.2.4 set out a process for fund managers to submit proposals to the Meta-Governance Working Group for consideration as fund managers over an ENS Endowment. The Endowment’s goal is to ensure the long-term viability of ENS by ensuring it can meet its ongoing financial obligations even in the face of reduced ETH price and registration/renewal revenue.

Eight submissions were made as a result of the RFP process, and the stewards have narrowed this down to three finalists. All three finalists are established actors with track records of fund management, and their proposals reflect an understanding of the low-risk, long-term sustainability approach that an endowment should take.

Rather than select a winner themselves, the Meta-Governance Working Group Stewards believe that the selection of a fund manager should be put to the DAO. This EP implements a Snapshot vote using Ranked Choice voting with the following options:

1. Avantgarde
2. Karpatkey
3. Llama
4. None of the above

Submissions for the vote are listed in alphabetical order.

Following the conclusion of the vote, the Meta-Governance Stewards will work with the winning team to develop an initial treasury allocation strategy, resulting in a separate executable proposal to enact the initial setup of the endowment.

Submission Summary

The table below summarizes the final submissions made by each candidate.

Submission	Initial Size	Target Size	Performance Fee	Admin Fee	Breakeven Return
Avantgarde	25,000 ETH	$100,000,000 USD	12.5%	0.5%	0.57%
Karpatkey	$52,000,000 USD	$69,000,000 USD	10%	0.5%	0.56%
Llama	30,000 ETH	$80,000,000 USD	0%	1% min. $500k USD	1% - 1.28%

Breakeven return is calculated as admin_fee / (1 - performance_fee).