The Rise of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: Opportunities and Challenges · Stanford Journal of Blockchain Law & Policy

At least as compared to existing legal entities, DAOs present certain operational efficiencies and are currently used by organizations managing over $500m in assets, suggesting that legal regimes should take steps to accommodate their growth and development. DAOs are able to rapidly pool and deploy capital, often implement low-cost and streamlined ... See more

Blockchains are not simply about money. The modern-day alchemists who minted Bitcoin and other digital assets have animated a generation of technologists to reimagine how the financial and commercial world operates. The vision that these technologists aim to bring to fruition is not just about payment systems and other financial instruments. Large ... See more

Nevertheless, DAOs are not without their challenges. The ideal design of DAOs is still being explored, exposing challenging governance questions which may ultimately stymie their growth and development. DAOs are not formally recognized and do not fit neatly into existing forms of business associations, making it difficult for DAOs to interact with ... 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

The shape of this future is rapidly coming into focus and centers around an organization referred to by technologists as “decentralized autonomous organizations,” or DAOs. These DAOs operate with different assumptions than many of today’s traditional legal entities and other business associations. DAOs are not run by boards or managers, but rather ... See more