According to CoinDesk, NFT finance-focused crypto group FloorDAO has split into two separate entities in an attempt to counter activist investors who had gained a significant stake in the project's governance tokens. FloorDAO, which aims to develop products for NFT-Fi, recently transferred over $2.5 million of its treasury, in crypto tokens and NFTs, to a splinter group called FloorkDAO, controlled by the activist investors. These investors quickly divided the sum among themselves, valuing each FLOOR token at nearly $5, up from $1.89 at the beginning of the year. The remaining FLOOR tokens are currently trading at around $3.88, indicating the value for investors who chose not to exit FloorDAO and retained their holdings.
This incident highlights the growing trend of activist crypto investors targeting decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), which are beginning to resemble primitive forms of blockchain-based companies. These DAOs often have large treasuries filled with proceeds from token sales and other sources, attracting activist investors who attempt to acquire governance tokens priced below the estimated worth of the DAO's holdings and then push the target project to buy them out at a higher price. This is possible because many DAOs use their issued tokens as governance chips, with more chips equating to more influence in the DAO's decision-making. As many long-time holders do not participate in project governance, activists can more easily accumulate a significant stake. In the case of FloorDAO, the activists' stake had grown so large that the project's most dedicated supporters felt it was becoming impossible to make any substantial progress. A blog post from earlier this week stated that FloorDAO has now successfully forked to allow members who do not align with the long-term vision of the DAO to exit.
