Across DAO

Across DAO was the organisation through which $ACX token holders governed Across, a protocol for moving tokens between blockchains that its team describes as built on cross-chain intents. In April 2026 its holders approved a proposal to transfer Across to a newly formed US company, Across, Inc., and wind the DAO down. Holders were offered the choice of selling $ACX for $USDC at a fixed price or exchanging it for equity in the company. The protocol kept running throughout; only its governance ended. The case sits beside Stargate DAO, another bridge DAO that handed its protocol to another organisation, and the other cases under DAO wind-downs.

How the DAO governed

The Across Governance Operating Manual, posted on 28 November 2022, six days after the acrossprotocol.eth Snapshot space was created, set out the process. Anyone could take part, and anyone with $ACX voting power could vote. Holders controlled treasury spending and changes to governance; a proposal moved from the forum to a Snapshot vote, and one $ACX counted as one vote whether it was held directly, supplied as bridge liquidity or staked as liquidity-provider tokens.

Snapshot votes do not execute themselves. The manual names an Across Council, a 3-of-5 Safe multisig on Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum and Polygon whose signers were Risk Labs representatives, which was to carry out approved proposals until optimistic governance was in place, and it lists oSnap, a mechanism for executing Snapshot results without trusted signers, among the DAO's tools. The space held 90 proposals by 31 October 2026, on grants, liquidity rewards and the DAO's own committees.

The UMA voting committee

The treasury held $UMA, the token of the UMA oracle, and the DAO put it to work. The Across UMA Voting Committee (AUVC) voted the treasury's $UMA in UMA's own governance and earned $UMA rewards for the DAO. In its February 2026 renewal request the committee reported 1,895 votes cast over 15 months, 12 of them incorrect, and 858,000 $UMA earned for the treasury, and asked for 20,000 $UMA to fund four more months. The vote closed on 24 February with 169,000 $ACX for and 11.5m against, so the renewal failed; an Against vote authorised the multisig signers to remove the delegation and unstake the treasury's $UMA.

The Bridge Across: from DAO to company

On 11 March 2026 Risk Labs opened a temperature check called The Bridge Across. It argued that the token and DAO structure had made it harder to close partnerships with institutional and enterprise clients, and that a legal entity could sign enforceable contracts and revenue agreements. It proposed a US C corporation to hold the protocol's intellectual property and run development and commercial work, with two offers to holders:

• Equity exchange. $ACX for shares in the company at one share per token, directly for large holders or through a no-fee special purpose vehicle for smaller ones. US securities law limits that vehicle to the first 100 US investors and about 500 others, and US participants must be accredited investors.
• Buyout. $ACX for $USDC at $0.04375 a token, a 25% premium to the 30-day average price on the day of the post, funded from Across's liquid assets.

The thread drew 40 posts. One holder objected that the proposed minimum for the equity route, about 250,000 $ACX or $10,000, would leave most small holders able only to sell. The proposal, under Hart Lambur's name, went to a Snapshot vote that ran from 31 March to 7 April 2026. Risk Labs said it would not vote the tokens in its custody, though team members could vote vested tokens they held personally. The proposal passed with 44.7m $ACX for and 4.1m against, from 42 addresses, against a quorum of 12.5m.

What can $ACX holders do now?

Sell $ACX for $USDC or exchange it for company equity, through exchange.across.to, until 8 January 2027. The portal opened later than planned: Risk Labs moved the date from 3 July to later in July for legal work, then on 5 August to the end of August, warning that some exchanges might delist $ACX and asking holders to move tokens to their own wallets.

The portal went live on 17 September 2026, by which time the protocol had been transferred to Across, Inc. Both options price $ACX at $0.04375. The equity option has a 250,000 $ACX minimum, with smaller amounts considered if allocation remains, is allocated first come, first served within the legal caps, and requires identity checks, with US applicants required to be accredited investors; the $USDC option requires sanctions screening. After 8 January 2027 $ACX will have no governance, utility or economic function, and neither Risk Labs nor the company will have any obligation to its holders.

How Caper approaches this

Across holders could leave on terms set once, by a proposal, for a window with a closing date. A caper builds the exit into the organisation instead: a member can exit any time for their fair share of the treasury, without waiting for a buyout offer or a vote to set the price. The broader design question is covered under rage quit and exit rights and DAO legal structures.

References

• Across forum – Across Governance Operating Manual (28 November 2022)
• Snapshot – acrossprotocol.eth space
• Snapshot – AUVC 4 Month Renewal Proposal (closed 24 February 2026)
• Across forum – The Bridge Across, temperature check (11 March 2026)
• Snapshot – The Bridge Across: ACX Token-to-Equity Exchange & Buyout Proposal (closed 7 April 2026)
• Across forum – $ACX Portal Update (30 June 2026)
• Across forum – The Bridge Across, August Update (5 August 2026)
• Across forum – The Across token buyout portal is now live (17 September 2026)
• Across – Developer documentation