ShapeShift, a non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange, is completing its long-awaited evolution into a “community-owned and governed crypto platform” by executing a historical airdrop to over 1 million ShapeShift customers and members of the broader DeFi community.
According to a post by ShapeShift, the exchange that prides itself on privacy and transparency is moving to become fully decentralised. This process begins by dismantling its corporate structure and putting power into the hands of users and FOX holders. In coming months, its entire codebase and technology will be open-sourced.
Although it currently employs 65 people, soon ShapeShift will have no employees, no bank accounts and no CEO in somewhere between four and 12 months’ time, according to founder and CEO Erik Voorhees.
A foundation will be established to oversee the decentralisation into a fully community-owned project, and as sufficient decentralisation is achieved this foundation has a mandate to dissolve away.
FOX to Become One of the Most Widely Distributed Tokens
This is one of the largest airdrops to ever take place, with over 60 percent (1,000,001,337 tokens) of the total FOX supply being allocated to over 1 million ShapeShift customers and members of the broader DeFi community, making FOX one of the most widely distributed tokens in history. This means that at the current price of FOX, $820,001,096 worth of value will be distributed to the community.
It has become clear to us that decentralisation is the only way to achieve borderless, immutable finance. Therefore, decentralising ShapeShift is how we choose to maintain fidelity to the principles first established by Satoshi and the Bitcoin whitepaper.
ShapeShift official statement
Every customer who has ever traded $1 or more of ETH or any ERC-20 token through ShapeShift prior to June 9, 2021 is eligible. Over 120,000 decentralised finance (DeFi) users from other platforms, including THORChain, Curve, Balancer and Uniswap, will also be eligible to collect FOX tokens through the airdrop.
Users who get the airdrop and want to earn more are also able to take part in liquidity mining from July 16.
Reasons for Decentralising the Company
This process of moving from centralised shareholder or board member governance to a community-based governance is an unprecedented move by any company to this degree.
Through this transition, the intention is to build a powerful community around an open-source, self-custody, multi-chain crypto platform for the world.
ShapeShift statement
As the company open-sources and decentralises itself, FOX tokens will give holders the ability to direct the future of the project by voting, submitting proposals, and governing the ShapeShift DAO.
This means that holders will be able to decide:
- which protocols and assets to integrate
- how to spend or invest funds in the ShapeShift DAO (funding new initiatives, building new services or products)
- adding or changing fees
- any other ideas contributed by our customers and community
Inspired by the broader DeFi community, we’ll now help pioneer a new model of economic coordination for the 21st century. No corporate entity, no banks and no borders. The tools are ready. Our customers, and the broader crypto community, are now the primary stakeholders of a decentralised, open-source digital asset platform for the world.
Erik Voorhees, founder and CEO, ShapeShift