Chuck, at least one of us does not understand what the other is saying. Maybe it's me.

Shapeshift allowed any user to change a crypto from his wallet let's say Ether, to another let's say Dogecoin. This was convenient and anonymous. Without Shapeshift the user would have to create an exchange account which is laborious, time consuming and forces you to prove the identity. Then he would have had to transfer the Ether to the exchange, make a transaction to buy Dogecoin with it, then transfer the Dogecoin back to his wallet.

Shapeshift allowed him to do all this immediately and anonymously. Then the government forced Shapeshift to enforce KYC (know your customer) ie collect identity information for its users. Lots of users did not like that and left Shapeshift. By becoming a DAO Shapeshift could not be forced to enforce KYC, and its users could use it like before.

Plus the new token, Fox, will appreciate and pay for future development and operations.