A First Look into Blockchain DAOs

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are critical to the blockchain ecosystem as they enable decentralized decision-making and governance, and facilitate the creation of decentralized applications (DApps) and organizations. However, despite significant importance, there is currently a lack of a comprehensive overview and detailed understanding of DAOs. To address the gap, this work presents a primary investigation of DAOs (35+). We category, examine and evaluate existing DAOs regarding their operational features, (non-)functionalities and real-world performance. In addition, we provide a consolidated exploration of DAOs by conducting a literature review [1] and an empirical study on mainstream projects, particularly Snapshot [2]. Our research contributes to a better understanding of DAOs and their potential impact on the blockchain ecosystem.

I. Introduction

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have emerged as a collaborative entity managed by a community of on-chain stakeholders who can propose proposals and vote on decisions regarding the organization's activities, funding, and governance. Thanks to the nature of underpinned smart con-tract, the entire lifecycle of DAOs (e.g., registration, proposal-releasing, and decision-making) are transparent, traceable and automated. In addition to serving as a means of internal man-agement, DAOs can also be leveraged for a multitude of other purposes, such as facilitating crowdfunding campaigns, sup-porting investment initiatives, fostering social organizations, and driving community-led projects. As a result, DAOs have gained widespread traction within the realm of blockchain technology. According to data by DeepDAO [Mar 2023], the deposited treasury of participants in DAOs has surpassed US$13.5 billion. Furthermore, the impressive number of active voter (1.8 million) is a testament to the prevalence of DAOs.