DECENTRALIZED AUTONOMOUS ORGANISATION (DAO)

Elizabeth Highams
6 min readFeb 22, 2022

Isn’t it possible to create something together with a group of like-minded individuals and pool your resources in support of a common goal? Fortunately, the principles of how you can do this are becoming more flexible, open-ended, and accessible to a wider audience thanks to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

Blockchain-based DAOs are becoming an increasingly significant part of the jigsaw as more and more people get interested in NFTs. As a result of the decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), new possibilities for artist-led companies, cooperative gallery formats, collaborative investment funds, and a host of other applications have opened up to us. Keeping this in mind, we’re here to give you some pointers on how they function, what you need to get started, and how they can help usher in a more collaborative future.

What Is a DAO?

A “DAO” is an acronym that stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. When it comes down to it, a DAO is a group of people working together toward a common objective, using a blockchain to make decisions in a transparent and efficient fashion. Cooperative groups that adhere to bylaws are called DAOs, and the blockchain is the place where such bylaws may be found.

With a DAO, the sky is the limit when it comes to what you can accomplish. Like NFTs, they can be used in a variety of ways. For example, a DAO may be a small group of friends pooling their money to buy supplies for a road trip or it could be a high-profile nonprofit with hundreds of donors and dozens of board members tasked with managing millions of dollars in funding.

How Does a DAO Work?

If you’ve never met someone in a DAO before, it’s still possible for you to participate in the DAO in a seamless fashion. DAOs have grown in popularity as a means of managing a wide range of processes, assets, and projects online because of their extreme transparency and efficiency.

Due to their “independent” nature, DAOs don’t require a human in a leadership position to get things done, unlike software. If a DAO gets money, the DAO’s smart contract can specify how that money should be stored and distributed.

They are autonomous in the sense that they self-govern and provide all DAO members individual agency. They are a terrific tool for open and efficient collaborative decision-making because everyone may propose and vote on proposals for the group.

In what ways have DAOs benefited society as a whole?

Collectors’ organization PleasrDAO, which got its start by purchasing pplpleasr’s NFT to celebrate Uniswap V3’s release, has probably come up in conversation with you. As they have stated, it is critical that these NFTs “belong to the people,” therefore they’ve gathered Edward Snowden’s historic origin NFT on Foundation. Collector DAOs like FlamingoDAO and $WHALE, both of which have over $1 million in treasuries, are also noteworthy.

It isn’t necessary that DAOs specialize in investments or art acquisitions, however. DAO-based social networks are also taking shape. One of the most popular Discord communities for cultural-crypto fans is Friends With Benefits (or $FWB). First, members had to buy $FWB tokens in order to access the server. Those interested in joining the community can still do so by purchasing $FWB tokens, but now the current members vote on who gets to join next. One of the most powerful features of a DAO is the ability to facilitate community creation.

MakerDAO, Uniswap, and Synthetix are examples of DAO DeFi (decentralized financial) applications. A worldwide, digital-first economy is being created as more people participate in smart contracts that secure billions of dollars.

If you’re looking for a specific DAO, you’ll find several instances out there, from a few of members to one million, with treasuries ranging from $0 to $230 million. The database of Ethereum-based communities maintained by Snapshot can give you a sense of the diversity of DAOs currently in existence.

Are there any drawbacks to taking part in a DAO?

DAOs are a crypto-native method of coordinating a group of people in the pursuit of a common purpose or vision. As with a cooperative company model, all contributors have a stake in the long-term success of the organization. Nevertheless, DAOs outperform more traditional company structures in terms of efficiency, thanks to the complete transparency and automation of their decision-making processes. With less room for misuse of authority, this opens the door to new forms of cooperation and experimentation.

Impacts of DAOs

● Transparency:

A DAO lays out all of the ground rules for its users. It is possible for all blockchain transactions to be seen by members of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

● Efficiency:

DAOs are a terrific method to work around the world because the technology allows them to be truly cross-border in scope. Contracts are automatically executed after a decision is taken in accordance with the DAO’s framework.

● Autonomy:

Decentralized autonomous organizations can function without an overall authority figure because they are self-governed by the communities they serve, giving everyone involved a voice.

● Anonymity:

DAO members can invest anonymously, allowing them to be more adventurous and flexible with their money.

DAOs are subject to a variety of legal issues.

Regulation has yet to keep pace with the development of DAOs, thus they are now operating in a gray area. Forming a DAO is easier than a legally recognized cooperative, firm, or fund because they aren’t yet recognized as actors in the legal system. Since they are unregulated and unsupervised, they can be more adaptable and easier to get off the ground.

There’s a lot of change going on though. For the first time in American history, DAOs have been granted LLC status in Wyoming. This might pave the path for other states to adopt DAOs, making them more readily available to enterprises of all kinds.

Procedure For Establishing a DAO in an Organization?

Creating a DAO necessitates technical expertise in the same way as minting NFTs does. In the future, the community will have access to a plethora of tools that will make building a DAO simple and easy. The more people experiment with DAOs and learn about how they work, the more unique applications will begin to emerge.

First and foremost, you need a wallet and a network of peers to support your DAO idea if you plan on trying it out. Then, you and your network can work together to create your own goals and set of rules.

A smart contract can be used to codify your decision-making system once you’ve established it (this is where things get technical). Some pre-existing platforms for creating DAOs are Gnosis Safe (formerly Moloch), Aragon (formerly Aragon), Colony (formerly Colony), and DAOStack (formerly DAOStack).

It’s also possible to establish a token, increase liquidity, and stock your treasury in this manner. DAO tokens are unique and can be used to administer the DAO environment. With the purchase and investment of tokens, new members may be able to join the DAO and gain voting rights and influence over the group’s future endeavors.

New members can join the DAO as it expands, allowing you to vote on proposals together. Just keep in mind that once a DAO is up and running, it will no longer be “yours” but will instead belong to the entire community.

Impact of DAOs on the Internet’s Future?

Decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) challenge the traditional model of centralized businesses and organizations by putting authority in the hands of the people who established it.

To put it another way, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) makes all of its own decisions instead than relying on the judgments of a central authority. If any of the Web 2’s digital titans, such as Facebook or Twitter, were DAOs, what would the world look like? Which platforms and underlying technologies might be altered as a result? There are new models of community ownership and governance that are being set up by DAOs that will allow for a more democratic, community-oriented, and participatory internet of the future to emerge.

Conclusion

There are more and more use cases for distributed autonomous systems (DAOs) every day, and their popularity is increasing. There has been an increase in interest in DAOs as a result of the proliferation of NFTs on the internet, and this is expected to continue in the future.

A growing number of organizations (such as nonprofits, startups and beyond) will begin to adopt DAOs in order to manage new and innovative ideas for how we produce value and think about ownership in the future. There are many more ways that DAOs will be able to acquire, create, engage with, or share NFT tokens collectively in the future.

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