A bottom up approach to any organizational structure is refreshing these days as technology giants gain significant power share over all aspects of our lives. DAOs are providing a new way for communities to govern themselves. In Web3 ecosystems where communities value autonomy and self direction, giving all members a voice has massive appeal.
From platforms for freelance workers to decision making around the most advanced DeFi protocols, DAOs have given us a way to put decision making in the hands of everyday members and users.
The rules for a DAO are most often encoded into the blockchain code. This removes intermediaries and allows for the design of a transparent, trusted environments. This effectively provides a way for groups of individuals with similar values or complementary skill sets to organize themselves.
Now that DAOs have started creeping into wider company governance conversations let’s take a look at what you may not know about DAOs.
The largest decentralized exchange in the world is a DAO
Uniswap, one of the most widely used and admired projects in the world of Web3, is the biggest DAO in the world. Using the UNI token, holders govern the community voting, protocol fees, and proposals. Uniswap announced $165 million series B funding in October and has a market capitalization of $3.6 billion.
DAOs are a playground for social experiments
Decentralized social media tools provide a way for DAOs to offer their members new ways of interacting, new voting mechanisms and create ever evolving organizations. This is in contrast to the static social media platforms that groups engage with today. How can we build better social tools to cut through the noise and clutter that exists within our social forums today? Many Web3 projects, especially, are hyper aware of what their members want.
“We’re working with a number of web3 projects innovating for their DAO communities. They are establishing trust through new tools like verified credentials, open-source community forums and comments within their own DAO applications. It’s all about providing open and accountable communications,” says Orbis Protocol co-founder Baptiste Greve.
You can govern virtual planets – Alien Worlds
Just last week, leading blockchain game, Alien Worlds announced the introduction of DAO planets. In what they have called Planet Syndicates, players can battle for planetary rule using their NFTs. Not only can players collect and trade NFTs, they can compete to earn Trilium, the in-game currency. The community can then use these governance tokens to vote on different aspects of the game.
“We have seen a shift from gamers simply playing games to wanting to control and create their own narratives and gameplay. This new wave of gamers will be the future and we are so excited to be at the forefront of it,” says Alien Worlds Co-Founder, Saro McKenna.
You can rally support even to buy the most sacred documents
In November 2021, a very unique DAO began to make the headlines as a group of individuals came together under the umbrella of Constitution DAO to raise $40 million in cryptocurrency to bid on one of only thirteen copies of the official US constitution. There were 17,000 individuals with a mean donation of just over $200 each.
Ultimately they lost out to hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel, who swooped in with a winning bid of $43.2 million. The bids were refunded to the group, less gas fees, which put a bit of a damper on overall proceedings.
The world of DAOs can be dangerous
Maker DAO, the largest decentralized financial protocol, came into the news for the wrong reasons when co-founder Nikolai Mushegian was found dead in Puerto Rico last week. The co-founder had been vocal in his anti-government views and even posted a prediction that he would be killed three days prior to his drowning.
There is no further news at this stage with MakerDAO refusing to comment out of respect for his family.
Even DAOs are trying to save the planet from a climate disaster
DAOs are funding the future of regenerative projects. As with many Web3 organizations, there are plenty of individuals who want to see a brighter future and believe that blockchain provides the infrastructure that can allow us to create a more transparent, sustainable path. Kimbal Musk, the brother of Elon, has jumped into this market with The Big Green DAO. With this DAO it is hoped that nonprofits can take power into their own hands to distribute grants to relevant green food and tech industries.
You can make music with some of your favorite artists
The world of music continues to be disrupted with new Web3 business models as musicians take a more hands on approach to the management of their music, rights to their music and revenue from music affiliated activities. StemsDAO encourages music collaboration through gamified music experiences and creating new social environments for music producers, songwriters and fans. Within this new DAO members can collaborate to create music, purchase music, collect NFTs and own a piece of a song.
UkraineDAO – for fast fundraising
UkraineDAO was set up by the founder of the band Pussy Riot Nadya Tolokonnikova and UK based activist Alona Shevchenko, and raised almost $7 million in ETH to support Ukraine’s war effort. The funds were raised through the sale of NFTs of Ukraine’s flag.
DAOs are at their best when they harness crypto people around a legitimate cause, and that’s what Ukraine DAO did: it raised money quickly, then sent it to the cause quickly. Shevchenko told Decrypt: “This is exactly what DAOs are for, making change offline in the real world harnessing the power of blockchain.”
BitDAO – Access to the largest treasuries in the world
Designed to support the growth of decentralized finance, BitDAO shares capital from its treasury to support long-term projects, technology, education and events. The treasury has been growing at an enormous speed, reaching roughly $2 million per day earlier this year.
DAO’s act as exciting new business structures for teams discovering the world of Web3. Operating on a transparent voting mechanism with access to funds has the potential to help fund the future of many creative industries today. DAOs focused on film production, start-up ecosystems, art and recruitment are rapidly changing the way decisions are made in creator led economies.
