What is a DAO? Your Ultimate Resource List

Have you heard the latest organisational buzzword - DAO.

You are likely thinking - WTF is a DAO?

To begin, it stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization.

It's a very popular way for cryptocurrency communities and companies to organise. However, it has broader application beyond that space.

The definition of a DAO is varied.

Here are three:

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is a group organized around a mission that coordinates through a shared set of rules enforced on a blockchain.

@lindaxie

DAOs are internet communities with a shared cap table and bank account.

@coopahtroopa

A group chat and a bank account.

@keikreutler

You are still probably thinking WTF is a DAO?

Well rather than create a new definition, let me curate.

Here is a collection of resources I've found helpful in understanding exactly what a DAO is.

• What are DAOs?
• What are some DAO examples?
• How do I start a DAO?
• What tools are used in a DAO?
• Who should I follow?

TL;DR

• Read this: DAO Landscape 📝
• Listen to this: All you need to know about DAO's in 2021 🎧
• Watch this: What is a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation), and how does it work? 📹
• Join this: AAVE Community 💬

What are DAOs?

These five resources will answer the most common questions. They'll explore what is a DAO, how do DAO's work and what problems DAO's aim to solve.

• A Beginner's Guide to DAOs 📝
• A Prehistory of DAOs 📝
• An Introduction to DAOs 📝
• What is a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation), and how does it work? 📹
• What is a DAO? 🎧

What are some DAO examples?

There's no better way to understand an idea than with examples.

This visual by @coopahtroopa provides the current DAO Landscape.

Image by @coopahtroopa

Here are 5 resources that dive into these DAOs:

• A Deep Dive Into How the Top 10 DAOs Work 📝
• The Formation of PleasrDAO - Leighton Cusack 📹
• What is OlympusDAO? 📹
• Making Bank: A Bankless DAO is Born 📹
• How Crypto Can Be Good for the Environment | Klima DAO 📹

A great way to learn is by joining a DAO.

AAVE is well-established DAO where you can see all the mechanics in action and get involved. For example, you can view and vote on governance proposals.

Start by joining the AAVE discord 💬

How do I start a DAO?

Once you understand the power of a DAO you'll likely want to start your own.

Here are a few resources about how to start a DAO:

• How to start a moloch DAO 📝
• Creating a Democratic Decentralized Blockchain Organization in 10 minutes 📹
• How To Create a DAO with DAOStack Alchemy 📹
• How to Create & Run Your Own DAO 📝

What tools are used in a DAO?

• DAO Landscape by Coopatroopha includes:

  • Gnosis Safe - Multisig wallets are commonly used to manage community treasuries.
  • Snapshot - Off-chain voting platform for easy token-based governance.
  • Discourse - Forum commonly used to discuss governance proposals.
  • CollabLand - Bots providing token-gated access and tipping to community chat groups.
  • Coordinape - Coordination game to determine which contributors(s) deserve token rewards.
  • Parcel - Treasury management to easily track and send payments.
  • SourceCred - Instance to track community participation and reward active members.
  • Mirror - Finance creative projects through tokenized crowdfunds.
  • Tally - Governance dashboard to track on-chain voting history across different protocols.
  • Boardroom - Governance hub for token holder management to empower key decision making.
  • Sybil - Create and track on-chain governance delegation.
  • RabbitHole - Reward tokens for completing specific on-chain tasks.

• Organization Legos: The State of DAO Tooling

• The DAO stack

Who should I follow?

I've curated a list on Twitter with the authors of these articles and more.

Subscribe: https://twitter.com/i/lists/1451641517802721282?s=20