How to pick a DAO legal entity - a16z crypto

A DAO uses blockchains and smart contracts to organize the mechanics of corporate governance, thereby facilitating collective participation of distributed participants in the funding and production of community goods. There are now several prominent DAOs in the Ethereum community, and recent legal moves in places like Wyoming have begun establishin... See more

This Essay explores the nature of DAOs and highlights several areas where states and regulators can adapt existing legal regimes to potentially accommodate DAOs. Part II provides an overview of DAOs and their perceived benefits and includes a taxonomy of DAOs to help understand the different variations currently emerging in the blockchain ecosystem... See more

Since DAOs are blockchain-based organizations that usually are not tied to a corporate entity, they leave a lot of room for rapid experimentation in organization and incentive design. Members can collectively source an idea, funnel collectively managed resources toward shared goals, iterate, and ship with rapid speed.

Of course, it’s not all fun and games, either — DAOs, after all, are not just an abstract crypto concept, but systems of people. And while they create new models for human coordination around shared principles or goals, they also present new challenges for effective governance, day-to-day execution, and scaling.

As Community DAOs become aggregators for top talent in crypto, we’ll see more custom tooling built to serve the broader community. And similar to how YC startups usually get initial distribution from other startups in their batch, Community DAOs will get their initial distribution from the other DAOs and projects their community is involved with.