DAOs are a new way of organizing people.DAOs seek similar ends — the creation of value similar to company structure — but rely on a decentralized framework in which workers, users, and other stakeholders have true ownership of the entity.
Various types of DAOs have emerged to serve different use-cases.There are DAOs for investing, DAOs for building new products, DAOs for socializing, and many iterations both between and beyond.
Meaningful assets are being managed by these entities.
We’re still early when it comes to DAO infrastructure.DAOs have many of the same needs as corporations, but must often deal with greater complexities given their scale, fluidity, and technical stack.
DAOs have clear vulnerabilities that have yet to be fully addressed.
We did not always work for companies.
1820 just 20% of American population worked for an organization
after industrialization and by 1950, 90% of the populace depended on companies
consolidation of workers under large organizations with centralized command systems
A better alternative; DAOs
Definitions. Explaining what a DAO is and how we might think of them.
History. The origins of a new organizational structure.
Categories. The diverse types of DAOs that exist.
Culture. The values and philosophies that underpin the space.
Landscape. Key players and the tools they use.
Starting a DAO. Exploring the benefits of going decentralized, and the tactics needed. Legal issues. Promising developments in Wyoming, and open questions.
Against DAOs. The vulnerabilities of the structure and its unproven potential.
Frontier. Exploring what the future might hold.
[DAOs are] a virtual entity that has a certain set of members or shareholders which, perhaps with a 67% majority, have the right to spend the entity’s funds and modify its code.
2 Types of DAOs
Decentralized Autonomous Corporations (DAC1)
1 share = 1 vote
Decentralized Autonomous Communities (DAC2)
1 member = 1 vote
hacking issue
Simply put — decentralized autonomous organization
Critically,
Decentralization and autonomy are sliding scales
DAOs — are entities geared towards a shared purpose: the creation of value
how DAOs differ from other organizations
Ownership
distribute ownership to a variety of stakeholders in the ecosystem
DAOs are owned by the ppl who create value in them
Organization
stakeholders choose their own labor and self-organize
how DAOs operate tactically
DAOs as companies
DAOs have departments which have a team lead that guides and supports other members
Teal organization
DAOs as coops
owned and controlled by the workers that contribute to it
DAOs as networks
distribute ownership to a range of different stake holders
most useful framework in DAOs
13 ways of looking at a DAO
https://twitter.com/divine_economy/status/1453480931487006728?s=20
similar as what types of LLCs exist? — technically oriented or socially-oriented
Technically-oriented DAOs
focus on building in the crypto space
on-chain actions
Socially oriented DAOs
bring together groups of people
find ways to interact and convene
collaborative entities that exist to help build a protocol
MakerDAO, Sushi, Uniswap, Compound
to create a powerful community
FWB, Seed Club, CabinDAO, Bright Moments
to aggregate capital and investor for deployment
The LAO, Flamingo, Neptune, MetaCartel
many early DAOs geared toward patronage, operating as Grant DAOs
seek to advance broader ecosystem, promising projects
Uniswap, Compound, Audius grant program
talent aggregators
pulling together human capital directed towards certain projects
RaidGuild, PartyDAO, DAOhaus, Yam DAO
produce public content collaboratively
Forefront, Bankless, DarkStar
fan clubs + contributor
social tokens
Roll, Leaving Records, Personal Corner
unite contributors around certain assets or collectibles
curators for certain projects
SquiggleDAO, MeebitsDAO, PleasrDAO, NounsDAO
two traits seem to be particularly commonplace across the DAO landscape
elevate the individual and give users a chance to contribute and own
establishes trust between all players
incentivizes collaboration over competition
empowers individuals to take ownership because of their deep understanding of organizational context
players across core functions
Aragon, Syndicate, Orca, Tribute, Colony
Aragon
provides suite of applications to create, manage, and govern DAO
Syndicate
democratize the world of investing
Orca
Pod Model https://orca.mirror.xyz/Y2xvPmB4cJH51srGqY6Mm_g38lV-7cwvtyDePnyzfAE
composability
Tribute
fundamentally modular
Colony
start a DAO without any coding needed
includes membership management, treasury tooling, infrastructure for governance
Discord, Telegram, Twitter
coordination especially at scale
Coordinape
helps DAOs coordinate and distribute resources to contributors
Circle product- allows DAO contributors to gift tokens- creates compensation map
Collab.Land
offers token-gating bot for Discord and Telegram
similar — Guild
SourceCred
used to measure and reward the contributions of individuals to a project
Grain — used as a wage-equivalent
DAOhaus
no-code platform for launching and running DAOs on a framework built by MolochDAO
how DAOs compensate contributors, payroll for DAOs
Superfluid
allows for programmable cash flows
streams of value so that compensation automatically flows to a DAO’s contributors
Sablier
financial streaming platform
truly autonomous- team that created this project burned their keys
hardest problems DAOs face today, permissionless access: a double-edged sword
Snapshot
offchain, gasless voting platform
SafeSnap- product by Gnosis, allows on-chain execution of off-chain voting
vote off-chain ← saving on gas fees and enacted on-chain later
Discourse
forum- for formal discussion and feedback on proposals
Llama
DAO that focuses on assisting other DAOs with treasury management
created dashboards, reports, treasury management guidelines
Parcel
a treasury suite
Gnosis
provides a better user-experience for DAO multisig wallets
PartyDAO, Mirror, Seed Club, FWB, The LAO, MetaCartel, Moloch, Rabbithole
3 core reasons
easiest ways to pool funds
crypto tokens provide a fluid way of rewarding an array of stakeholders
some DAO tokens have risen → introduced grant programs and fellowships
DAOs communicate, onboard, transact, and govern in public
Communication
public channels which anyone can join to learn more about the project
Membership
on-chain public records
membership composability, rewarding anyone with other DAO’s token
Governance
members can propose new initiatives and vote on key decisions
DAO structure does not have clear benefits
Sell some NFTs, seed your community with cool people, gate a Discord, and drop some tokens
mission and vision describing what participants are buying into with a DAO
airdrop
bounties
purchase of tokens
process of building legitimacy in the decisions taken by the DAO or teams operating within the DAO
most common method of decision making
Token Weighted Voting
How a bill becomes a law
Discussion and shaping
Formalization of proposal
Voting on the proposal
Execution of the proposal
DAO incentives include:
Token rewards
Social capital
Bill-paying tokens
DAO rewards
Bounties
Grants
Coordinape Circles
Salaries
Community managers
Recruiters and promoters
Scribes
Artists
Engineers
Treasureres
Game designers
Digital marketers
Finding the right role
no formal discovery process
Onboarding
ex) weekly new joiner sessions and provides detailed guide
Collaborating
Getting paid
Wyoming
recently passed a law that grants legal company status to DAOs that operate on a blockchain
Unincorporated Not for Profit — UNA structure
a group of individuals want to form an association without having to formalize it through registration
Fiduciary responsibility
Minority protections
Squad Wealth by Other Internet
A Prehistory of DAOs by Kei Kreutler
DAO Landscape by Cooper Turley
The DAO of DAOs by Packy McCormick
State of the DAOs by Bankless
Organization Legos by Nichanan Kesonpat
Sushi and the Founding Murder by Mario Gabriele
The New Coordination Frontier by Gitcoin x Bankless
Come for the creator, stay for the economy by Patrick Rivera
A beginner’s guide to DAOs by Linda Xie
Protocols and Creator DAOs by Darkstar