What Is a DAO?
Organisations governed by token holders and code, rather than a traditional hierarchy.
What you’ll learn
- •A DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) coordinates a group via smart contract rules and collective, often token-weighted, voting.
- •Common uses include governing a DeFi protocol's development, pooling funds for collective investment, and coordinating open-source contributors.
- •Most DAOs are less 'autonomous' than the name implies — they blend human discussion and a core team with narrower, code-enforced execution.
- •Voter apathy can leave decisions in the hands of a small, unrepresentative share of eligible token holders.
- •Concentrated voting power among large token holders ('whales') can undermine the appearance of broad, decentralised governance.
- •Complex decisions made through open, public group discussion can be slower and messier than a traditional company's closed-door process.
- •DAO legal recognition varies significantly by jurisdiction and remains genuinely unsettled in many countries.
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