If you have read the former Coinbase CTO, Balaji Srinivasan’s new book, The Network State, then you will be very excited to read this analysis on the CityDAO. Personally, I am very attracted to the idea of a network state, as much as blockchain technology and DAO. In this article I will walk you through how CityDAO is striding towards building the very first network state on this earth.
According to CityDAO, their mission is to “build an on-chain, community-governed, crypto city of the future”. You might say to yourself: “sounds great, just like all the other promises DAOs have made”. But what if I tell you they have already acquired a 40-acre land in Wyoming, US? What If I tell you Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, is a citizen of CityDAO, along with Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase? If these people are feeling comfortable with CityDAO, then it’s worthwhile to find out what CityDAO is doing right.
The most striking thing about CityDAO is its sleek website design. Instead of drowning users with self-praise and jargons, one can clearly understand the expectations for CityDAO. Under “How to get started”, a ten-minute TED Talk by CityDAO’s founder Scott Fitsimons and three one-minute artcles are presented. In just under 13 minutes, a new visitor can understand all the important information about CityDAO.
Land on Chain: First DAO in history that officially bought land
Citizenship: Become a citizen by acquiring the Citizenship (NFT)
Guild Structures: Internal organizations that keep the DAO running
Scroll further down, we can see an epitome of the 40-acre Wyoming land, dubbed parcel 0.
The guilds are divided into six vital roles that cover every need of the DAO. Contributors can quickly point themselves to the right place. Each guild has an internal meeting every week to discuss important matters and how to address them.
Now let’s dive in CityDAO’s internet presence and marketing efforts.
The most public figure for CityDAO is its founder, Scott Fitsimones. In July 2022 he did a TED Talk explaining his motive and plan for building a great city by DAO. The DAO also publishes a weekly newspaper to provide updates and recaps. The DAO’s media guild has established presence on Spotify Podcast, YouTube, Discord, Twitter, and Mirror.xyz.
Final thoughts:
Having been following CityDAO’s twitter and their discord for over 2 months now, I believe CityDAO has one of the strongest consensuses among all the DAOs I have observed due to its inclusiveness and simple-to-understand concepts. The onboarding process is extremely easy given that there’s no need for a deep understanding of blockchain technology. One only needs to know how to purchase an NFT on Opensea, how to cast votes on Snapshot, and where to find help. CityDAO’s members are very friendly and responsive in Discord.
According to The Network State, there are 7 steps to build a network state
Build a startup society, an online community where strangers gather together for a common mission.
Industrialization. An online community isn’t always synchronized. An online Union can help community to work together in a healthy way.
Establish trust both online and in-person.
Establish contact between globally scattered communities via the internet
Gain diplomatic recognition from another sovereign state.
Real-time update of member counts and net worth
Crowdfund a physical land for the network state
If the formula is right, then we can see how far along CityDAO has gone to achieve a network state. Actually, the only ingredient missing is “diplomatic recognition”. It is a daunting task to establish a formal diplomatic relationship with another sovereign country, but I believe the members of CityDAO will work tirelessly to achieve a utopia society that humans have not seen before.
Disclaimer: the author of this article does not own a Citizen NFT and is not economically associated with CityDAO whatsoever. The article is for informational purposes only. Please always do your own research before investing in a project.