Thank you for raising these important points—I’m grateful for the opportunity to address them fully. My response will be lengthy, so please bear with me, but I promise it will be enlightening. I am behind the launched of The Cecil DAO and selected its initial charity beneficiaries. It took me 6 years as per my tweet: https://x.com/bochslerfinance/status/1146729161832181761?s=12&mx=2
Before diving into the details of my reasoning and process, I owe the ICP community a transparent explanation of who I am. This will also serve as a thorough due diligence for Cecil.
My name is Gian Bochsler. The 25 October 2016, I helped Dominic establish the foundation behind the Internet Computer (ICP). He needed two trusted Swiss citizens alongside him as co-founders, as Swiss law requires three founding members to create a foundation. Let me be clear: Dominic is the sole visionary and architect of ICP. My role, together with Alexis Vera, was to secure the foundation’s initial capital from a clear and legitimate source. That day, Dominic, Alexis, and I signed the foundation’s statutes, appointing its first council: Dominic as president, Michael Niederer as secretary, and Cedric Waldburger as a member.
A year later, as the complexities of cryptocurrency—taxes, legalities, and banking—intensified, Dominic asked me to join the council, replacing Michael and Cedric. I accepted and served until October 23, 2024. After eight years—a symbolically significant tenure—I stepped down to pursue entrepreneurial path started with Bochsler Finance 25 years ago. Today, I remain an advisor to Dominic, a dear friend whose extraordinary vision I continue to support wholeheartedly. I’m committed to contributing to the ICP ecosystem to the best of my ability.
Beyond ICP, I’ve been involved in several ventures. I’m a co-founder and the first architect behind ORIGYN and GoldDAO, both now led by talented and capable teams who’ve taken the reins. I also founded BITY.com in 2014, one of Switzerland’s first two crypto brokers. My journey with decentralized organizations dates back to The DAO, The DAO — Wikipédia where I was one of the curator next to Vitalik and Vlad https://x.com/gianbochsler/status/755710148342153217?s=52
I was captivated by its concept and philosophy, but as history (and Laura Shin’s excellent book The Cryptopians) recounts, it didn’t unfold as planned. BITY played a key role during that saga, aiding in the redistribution efforts and supporting the White Hat and Robin Hood counterattacks. It was during this turbulent time that I met Dominic—a turning point that shaped much of what followed.
Inspired by these experiences, I later founded the Decentralized Entity Foundation (DEF) https://defoundation.ch/ , dedicated to advancing DAOs. Here’s the crux, Lorimer: DAOs thrive in the digital realm, but bridging them to the physical world introduces significant challenges—theory meets practice, tangled with regulation. This passion for connecting these two worlds led me to create ORIGYN, focused on real-world assets (RWA), and GoldDAO, which deals with physical gold. It’s a complex endeavor, navigating a maze of regulatory requirements. Without ORIGYN’s RWA framework, GoldDAO wouldn’t exist—this is why ORIGYN committed 500 million OGY to GoldDAO. Physical gold is a compelling use case, and the connection runs deep: I was born in Neuchâtel, home to the ORIGYN Foundation, METALOR (the world’s largest gold refiner), and the global watchmaking industry.
DEF plays a critical role as an agent for DAOs in the physical world. As a foundation, it has no shareholders; its ultimate “controller” is its mission. To ensure accountability, it’s overseen by two independent auditors, one is a federal supervisory body, verifying that the council adheres to its goals and that its finances align with its activities. GoldDAO is officially represented by DEF through a vote in the SNS, and the same structure will apply to Cecil. DEF can, for instance, hold titles or shares on behalf of a DAO, with the flexibility for either party to terminate the mandate.
As for Cecil DAO, it will receive a 300 million OGY donation—a commitment rooted in the vision of ORIGYN’s three founders. Since 2022, we’ve pledged to balance profit-driven initiatives with charitable contributions. Cecil’s death struck me deeply; I couldn’t fully explain why, but it stirred something in me. I felt compelled to act. That’s when I learned about the Akashinga, a group of remarkable women from Zimbabwe—where Cecil lived—whose story is now well-documented. These fierce defenders of wildlife embody the lion’s spirit, fighting poachers, elephant killers, and more. I’m convinced that if Cecil could return, he’d manifest as one of them, standing tall against those threats.
Lorimer, this is just the first part of my explanation. I’ll post the second part tomorrow to address your specific questions in detail. Unfortunately, it’s 9 p.m. here in Zurich, and I must wrap up for now. Stay tuned for part two—I promise it’s worth the wait!