DAO – A Decentralized Governance Layer for the Internet of Value

Blockchain advisors George Samman and David Freuden teamed up to co-author DAO: A Decentralized Governance Layer for the Internet of Value. 

The report is a deep dive into the DAO ecosystem, addressing the many misconceptions around what DAOs are and their purpose, as well providing an overview of the major current projects. 

You can download the 49 page report here: DAO – A Decentralized Governance Layer for the Internet of Value

Some of the key takeaways from the report:

1. We see a growth in DSaaS (DAO Software as a Service) providers, such as OpenLaw, Aragon and DAOstack, designed to accelerate the growth of DAOs as a category.

2. DAOs operate in a ‘triangle of tensions’ that they need to overcome. This lexicon of the triangle is based on the treatise “Exit, Voice & Loyalty” by Albert Hirschman. These must be balanced to find an optimal outcome which allows the DAO to achieve its mandate:

   – Exit (Individual)

   – Voice (Governance)

   – Loyalty (Decentralization)

3. Using DeFi enables DAOs to bypass, if they choose, the traditional banking sector, along with their inefficiencies. This is significant as it creates a Trustless, Borderless, Transparent, Accessible, Interoperable & Composable corporation.

4. Many DAOs will be looking to wrap a legal structure with underlying smart contract code around the entity so as to comply with regulations, provide legal protection and limited liability to their participants and allow for easier deployment of capital.

The report also introduces 50 DAOs within the DAO ecosystem with succinct descriptors and links to additional resources so that readers can do additional research into individual projects.