Aragon is open-source software powered by the Ethereum blockchain, built to help people set up decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Its native asset is the Aragon Network Token (ANT). ANT is an ERC-20 token that serves as the governance currency for the platform.

Many organizations today are still managed and governed in a centralized way, which means workers often have limited influence over how decisions are made. Aragon believes this approach is inefficient, so it created a network meant to reduce the downsides of centralized control. Through Aragon, users can form DAOs where any member can submit proposals and vote on key outcomes. In Aragon’s ecosystem, holding the appropriate token grants someone membership in a DAO. The project also points out that organizations often rely on outside authorities like banks, and argues this reduces transparency-so Aragon aims to enable transparent DAOs without depending on third-party intermediaries.

Aragon was founded by Luis Ivan Cuende and Jorge Izquierdo in 2016. In 2017, Aragon carried out an initial coin offering for its native token ANT, collecting nearly 275,000 ETH (worth about USD 25 million at the time) in return for ANT. Then, in 2018, Aragon deployed on Ethereum’s mainnet.

What are Aragon’s key features and how does it work?

Aragon developed AragonOS, a smart contract toolkit that lets developers build DAOs. Using modules, participants can raise funds, encourage contributors to join community efforts, and make decisions through broad participation. Every DAO built with AragonOS comes with three built-in components: Finance; Tokens; Voting. Finance helps manage an organization’s resources-for instance, members can submit transactions, review transaction history, and check the DAO’s asset balance. Tokens cover the concept that DAOs use crypto tokens to support membership and internal structure. Voting ensures token holders can introduce proposals, vote, and evaluate the results. Aragon also operates its own DAO, the Aragon Network DAO.

Aragon’s primary product, Aragon Client, is a DAO deployment platform that gives users tools to create tailored DAOs with more transparent participation and administration. Aragon Client is flexible enough to mirror different organization styles as DAOs, whether the structure is for a charity, a business, or a group of investors.

One notable component is Aragon Court, a decentralized dispute resolution system for settling disagreements inside organizations on the Aragon network when smart contracts can’t resolve them. Users who aren’t part of the dispute (known as jurors) vote after reviewing evidence provided. To become a juror, a participant must stake ANJ tokens in designated network contracts. More staked ANJ increases the chance of being selected as a juror. Jurors receive ANT token rewards for assisting in case resolution. Other products in the ecosystem include Aragon Govern; Aragon Voice and Vocdoni.

As the network’s native token, ANT has multiple key roles. It is a governance token, allowing holders to shape the Aragon Network’s future by voting on proposals that affect the network’s rules and regulations. ANT is also used to support work tokens such as ANJ and ARA. For example, ANT is needed to obtain ANJ coins, and those are required to use the resolution services offered by Aragon Court.

Where can you buy ANT?

ANT can be purchased on the CEXs and DEXs listed here. Common choices include Binance and Gate.io. ANT’s price depends on the exchange and current demand. For more detailed ANT price information, please check the price charts above.