Do you think 2022 will be the year for DAOs in 2019? The year 2021 marked a new era.
Blockchain-related disruptive and explosive innovations appear to be the result of a common ontological hunger. This deeper part of humanity urges to fill the gap that separates us from other animal species.
Spoiler Alert: The void is unfilled.
But trying –creating, innovating, going against the system, etc– to make something with it is what keeps us moving, conscious, and alive. The opposite is to become purposeless zombies that do exactly everything they’re told to do.
The DAOs: What you need to know
So, Daos. Decentralization, smart contracts and collectively finding an alternate to traditional structures are the key ingredients. There’s three big men at the top, plus thousands of employees who can’t be involved in major decisions within the environments they live. Most corporations are basically in this category.
Web3, Web3, the metaverse and NFTs were the hottest years in 2021. All of this has become mainstream. It’s getting big, it’s everywhere. But there’s so much happening so soon that the bigger picture of these innovations doesn’t have a defined shape yet.
Nevertheless, it’s important to approach the urge that lays behind everything that’s exploding around us, because it’s likely about to become part of everyone’s life.
What are DAOs then? Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, right, but that didn’t tell you much.
“They represent a fundamental shift in the ways humans coordinate”, explained Spencer Graham, project lead of DaoHaus. DAOs will likely be used by many organizations and companies in the future, he believes.
He also noted that “decentralized” is probably the most important word in there. Nowadays most of these groups focus on distributing an organization’s power amongst the members of a group in order to make decisions and changes: no guy on top.
They introduce the possibility to achieve collective goals without needing to trust everyone on the team –because they simply cannot corrupt the process, and trust relies on the algorithm as the only intermediary– or an external legal framework to keep things on track.
Every vote is taken into consideration when DAOs are managed. Nothing will get executed if there’s not enough quorum. You don’t need to be wary of people cheating in the ballots. It’s easy to see the presidential election being this clear.
2021 Review
Heads up: I’m not about to list trendy blockchain organizations. Let’s talk about what’s happening.
DAOs become more difficult to identify. They are first and foremost a coordination tool. However, depending on how you look at it, DAOs can be of many different types.
The goals are the most important factor in determining the variations. What purpose is the organization serving?
DAOs are a way for small companies to take on venture capital. You could even create an investment club with people who share the same financial goals.
Primarily in crypto, most people want to either make money or create value. All of these options can be considered respectable.
The people inside a DAO probably couldn’t achieve their goals individually. So People have to be around people.
Really, People have to be around people.
At this point, we’ve all become a little bit too cynical to believe it, but it’s true.
When you truly observe how the most important sides of crypto move –the ones that can directly have an effect on society–, it becomes an unavoidable reality that we need each other to achieve the greater goals.
In 2021 we had a DAO who tried –and almost achieved– to buy one of the rarest copies of the constitution. Their effort became so valuable and popular that other DAOs were born to buy things like a Jodorowsky’s Dune Manuscript, and even try to purchase an NBA team.
It might sound geeky, but it’s also touching how people are finding ways to access things they could never dream of before –and stick it to the establishment.
It’s also important to note that 2021 was also full of despair. The people are sick of toxic and oppressive workplaces.
Similar Reading| DAO To Make Jodorowsky’s Dune Manuscript Public: Member Won $3M Bid
The Problem?
Although the passion these organisations have for fixing institutional problems and big systemic issues sounds inspiring, there is always a danger in passion. DAOs and smart contracts are being questioned. Could they really be frauds? Can the reliance on smart contracts become problematic for companies’ decision-making?
Sometimes, the information was withheld from the public or the community. This defeats decentralization’s purpose, and can put some organizations at risk. In 2021, we also saw that some DAOs can be wolves in sheep’s clothes. Why? We’ll dig into that in the second part of this article.
Similar Reading| The largest DeFi Hack yet? BadgerDAO Hack Leads to $120M+ Loss