Most projects now signal their DAO properties as loud as they can, caught in the upswell of excitement about this new idea of corporate and social governance that could fracture and then recreate the body politic. Micro-communities, beholden only to themselves, are leveraging their collective warchests to deploy under the auspices of the blockchain.
For many, blockchain communities were always DAOs, the decentralised transaction nature leading to the formation of blockchain stewards. Yet now, with new technology, new tooling, and new conceptions of how to use blockchain’s incredible ability to organise trust and execute a shared aim between communities who don’t know each other, it’s no wonder the signalled 2022 as ‘The Year of the DAO’.
The DAO quest has begun in earnest, with amazing communities like MetaCartel, who act like a decentralised VC firm, Flamingo, who collect NFTs, and Yield Guild Games, who have operations in many play-to-earn landscapes, popping up and becoming extremely successful.
In February 2022, the DAO market cap consisting of governance tokens was estimated at $21.6B, with some of the most unique DAOs including BitDAO, Ribbon, Curve, Olympus DAO, Decentraland, Ethereum Name Service, PleasrDAO, Badger DAO,MidasDAO and others.
Although hacks can affect any project, DAOs are particularly sensitive as individual DAO treasuries may quickly add up to significant figures. This is why it is equally important for DAOs to use audited tooling and engage in the best op-sec practices.
DAOs as a concept still have a long way to go, from ensconcing themselves in the legal system to establishing the most effective governance and distribution of power. Make no mistake, though, the benefits are too much to ignore. In ten years, many of the world’s largest organisations will be DAOs and traditional employment structures will forever change.
The future is DAO. Don’t miss it, but in which you have trust ?