Aragon, or the Aragon Network, is a decentralized management platform created by a Spain-based company. The platform is based on the Ethereum blockchain and promises to make it easier to create and manage organizations. It’s decentralized business management software that promises to vastly enhance the efficiency and security of businesses around the world.
Aragon implements basic features of an organization like a cap table, token transfers, voting, role assignments, fundraising, and accounting. The behavior of an Aragon organization is easily customized by changing the bylaws. In addition, Aragon organizations are extensible through third party modules that interact with the organizations’ contracts.
How Does Aragon Work?
Aragon offers similar company management features to current software. Some of the core features of Aragon include:
• Governance
• Payroll
• Accounting
• Cap Table Management
• Fundraising
Ultimately, Aragon’s goal is to allow individuals to manage entire organizations using the blockchain, making Aragon organizations more efficient than their traditional counterparties. As the Aragon website explains, “By making it possible for everyone in the world to organize, we are enabling the borderless, permission less creation of value.”
The entire platform is based on Ethereum, the blockchain global computing platform used by blockchain companies worldwide. By using a blockchain like Ethereum, Aragon maintains a distributed, append-only database that’s defended against tampering and revision. The end result is a single, shared source of cryptographically verified truth.
Features
Decentralized Autonomous Organization.
The Aragon Network (AN) has stated that it will be the first decentralized autonomous organization whose goal is to act as a “digital jurisdiction” and said to make it easy for organizations, entrepreneurs and investors to operate.
The team behind Aragon wants, for example, investors to suggest the entrepreneurs they will invest in to be in the Network. That way investors are safer and know that they have some guarantees. They can, for example, sue the founders if they just run away with their money.
Aragon Core
Aragon Network organizations will be built using Aragon Core, a Solidity DAO framework and web-based decentralized app (Dapp). Initially, Aragon Core will specialize in capitalist companies, but is modular enough to accommodate other types of organizations.
As such the start-up speaks of offering a new, more efficient model for companies to operate and requires only the Internet to function. Organizations who will be early adopters for Aragon are expected to be distributed companies and open source projects according to the venture.
The founders behind the project believe that software projects will be the first adopters given that the software business is entirely based on data and programming and can be run entirely online in a global and decentralized fashion.
Decentralized Court System
Smart contracts are just code. And, being code it is not currently possible to express all human subtleties. But organizations are just humans. So we need a way to resolve human disputes, just like courts do. By using prediction marketplaces, bonding and reputation systems, Aragon founders hope to create a decentralized court system for Aragon organizations to use.
Why do companies need blockchain technology?
The advantage is obvious: even if the government or a malicious third party tries to tamper with your business, your company will continue to operate efficiently. We live in an age where multimillion dollar hacks occur every week. Organizations need technology like Aragon to stay secure.
Another advantage is the frequent updates: Aragon organizations will be able to be seamlessly upgraded. Aragon organizations will also have its own decentralized court system that organizations can use to solve human disputes.
Overall, Aragon plans to make businesses more efficient, more secure, and more suited for a modern digital age.
Who is Behind Aragon
Aragon’s page only lists two principal parties. They do, however, credit a number of individuals in their Whitepaper, including Satoshi Nakamoto and Vitalik Buterin (founder of Ethereum).
The first principal party is Luis Cuende, who has been listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 (to watch) list. He previously founded the Stampery project, which is one of many blockchain data verification services out there. He’s contributed to or created over 40 repositories on Github. One of them is interesting and unusual: a JavaScript module that creates visuals to go along with Electronic Dance Music. Cuende is the “project lead” for Aragon. This means that his responsibilities are among many different categories.
In charge of the technology, however, is Jorge Izquierdo. Izquierdo has made over 1,800 commits on Github in the past year. This is a lot, by any standard, but doesn’t always mean they’re all of substance. One of his projects is called block.chat. It’s an Ethereum-backed messaging platform.
Aragon(ANT) Token
Overview.
Current coin Value: $2.76
Market Cap: $92,898,124
Total Supply: 39,609,523 ANT
Circulating Supply: 33,605,167 ANT
The Aragon Network has its own token, ANT, which will be used to govern every single aspect of its functioning. Token holders will be able to:
• Change subscription fees and minting rate
• Decide which services to provide
• Vote on capital allocations or investments
• Self-upgrade the Network
• All other voting and governance decisions
Token crowd sale
Aragon announced that its ICO token sale raised a mammoth $25 million. The token sale saw participation from 2,403 buyers around the world and lasted under 15 minutes to raise the figure for a token sale that was originally set to run until June 14, 2017.
As a decentralized management platform, Aragon offers basic company management features such as governance, payroll, accounting, cap table management, fundraising and more.
Aragon placed cryptographically sealed hardcoded hidden cap that was only revealed during the sale, for “not wanting to put the Ethereum Network at any risk” revealed Aragon co-founder and project lead Luis Cuende.
Notably, the full token sale amount invested into Aragon was in Ether, despite Aragon’s partnership with ShapeShift which allowed users to purchase the ANT (Aragon Network Tokens) with 25 digital currencies.
Aragon’s token sale is now the 4th highest funded crowd sale ever and only the second behind last year’s DAO as the largest Fintech crowd sale ever.
The revenue from the token sale will be deployed to Aragon Institution MTÜ, an Estonian-based non-profit established by Aragon earlier this month. The company will use the funds to develop Aragon Core and the Aragon Network (AN), implementing security audits and hiring additional developers and operational staff.
Wallets
Exchanges
• ShapeShift
• Bittrex
Summary
Businesses of the future who are looking to integrate the blockchain into their business models will certainly be considering the Aragon platform, for its ease of use and powerful features. The chances of it competing swimmingly in the arena of blockchain-for-business is very high. It’s easy to see more modules being developed for the platform.
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