A governance proposal to let GNO token holders redeem their assets for a share of the Gnosis DAO's $220 million treasury at a near 30 percent premium is facing significant opposition from within its community.
"This is pure arbitrage trade, not some moral mission," DeFi analyst Ignas said, while noting that the proposal's "risk-free value logic has a point." He voted against the plan.
The proposal, GIP-150, would allow holders to redeem GNO for approximately $170 per token, a significant premium over its recent market price of around $131. The plan was put forward by a group some call "RFV Raiders," who target DAOs trading below their treasury's fair value. However, with voting open until May 12, on-chain data from the Tally platform shows 65 percent of the 330,000 votes cast so far are against the measure.
The vote has become a flashpoint for a debate over performance metrics, pitting the DAO's dollar-denominated treasury growth against its declining Ethereum-denominated holdings. The outcome could set a precedent for how activist investors engage with other well-capitalized DAOs in the DeFi ecosystem on Ethereum.
A Tale of Two Ledgers
The core of the dispute centers on how to measure the success of Gnosis, which held its initial coin offering in 2017. Co-founder Lukas Schor defended the project, stating on social media that the DAO raised $12.5 million and now holds over $200 million in assets "without any fundraise in between," while also "building a ton of value for the industry."
Critics immediately countered that the original fundraise brought in 250,000 ETH. Community member chud.eth pointed out that the DAO now holds less than 85,000 ETH, representing a significant underperformance against simply holding the original asset.
Marc Zeller, founder of the Aave Chan Initiative, amplified this critique. Responding to Schor’s dollar-denominated defense, Zeller wrote that measuring in ETH would show that GNO holders were "massively outperformed by a teenager solely focused on wanking in his mom's basement during the same period."
'RFV Raiders' Return
The group behind the proposal, which rejects the "RFV Raiders" label, has a history of similar activist campaigns. In 2023, they targeted projects including Aragon, Rook, and FEI/Tribe, leading to the dissolution of the latter two. The move against Gnosis comes less than six months after the DAO voted to fire its former treasury manager.
The proposal's author, who goes by Wismerhill, argues that GNO trades at a "persistent and widening discount" to the value of the Gnosis DAO treasury.
The broader DeFi community remains divided. Sebastian Bürgel, a Gnosis co-founder, questioned when "the most respected builder in the space" transitioned to a "hedge fund." In contrast, Anthony Leutenegger of Aragon, a previous target of a similar campaign, urged for improvements in "programmatic token holder rights" as a tool for incentive alignment.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
