Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

DAOs really are the future of work. I think as our world gets increasingly global, and we've seen this with COVID, this notion that you're going to show up to one geographic location every day to work for one company in one regulatory jurisdiction (...) is already an outdated notion, even just in the digital world.

Anne Connelly Faculty at Boston University and certified in Disruptive Strategy from Harvard Business School

Decentralized Autonomous Organization

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is an organization or company operated by rules written as computer code instead of people. DAO’s uses blockchain technology and smart contracts, which simplifies transactions and eliminates any need for a third party.

DAO is poised to build a fairer organization by removing human biases. In most companies CEO’s or higher executives take unilateral decisions which impact the whole company. DAO shifts this power from executives to investors by letting them vote on every crucial decision and smart contracts written at inception will take care of execution. Voting rights are often distributed based on number of DAO tokens each member possess.

Characteristics of DAO

Non hierarchical structure
Transparency
Democratic changes
Execution managed by smart contracts
Open access
Ability to recruit outside entity as needed

People who put work or financial support into a DAO become members. Those members can then vote on all of the decisions in the organization, which can range from who to hire and what projects to take on, to how to resolve conflicts between members.

“At the core of it, it’s just a group of people that really care about something, and they want to work on it together,” said Anne Connelly, who teaches blockchain and social impact at Boston University.

DAO & Traditional Company

DAOs will eventually replace the traditional company model. In practice, not all DAOs are decentralized or autonomous, so it is best to think of DAOs as internet-based organizations that are collectively owned and controlled by its members. Though it is still early in the evolution of DAOs, they are no longer just a hopeful concept. They are real organizations managing billions of dollars of capital, providing real products and services to millions of people, and creating new ways for people to earn an income.

W3data and DAO

W3Data intends to become a DAO organization in the future.

References

@ Overview of the current DAO landscape by Cooper Turley.
@ BitDao: BitDAO is a unique beast in the DAO ecosystem. Not only has it managed to amass a treasury of more than $2.5 billion through continued mega-raises, it’s also attracted big-name investors including Peter Thiel, Alan Howard, and Founders Fund.
@ Friends With Benefits: Investing in Friends With Benefits (a DAO) from Andreessen Horowitz.
@ ConstitutionDAO: Buying the Constitution: The rise of DAOs in legal.
@ A US state government legalized DAO for the first time.