DAO Newsletter #0 (test - 1)
State of the DAO #0 | [September 20th, 2021]
State of the DAO #0 | [September 20th, 2021]
Editorial
What is a DAO
This Month in DAOs
DAOs - A New Member Draft
Announcing the DAOSquare Partnership with BanklessDAO
Zodiac: The expansion pack for DAOs
DAOs at a Glance
The Future of Venture Capital
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations and the Promise of Utopia
Organization Legos: The State of DAO Tooling
Get Plugged In
Public Calendars
Event Highlights
Jobs Section
Welcome to State of the DAO, your weekly/monthly newsletter for all things DAO. Whether you're completely new to the ecosystem and wanting to get more involved, or you're a seasoned expert looking for your next big opportunity, this is the newsletter for you.
Stay up to date and subscribe and feel free to submit content to scottkalwei@gmail.com.
Authors: Bankless DAO Writers Guild (authors)
This is the official newsletter of the Bankless DAO. If you were a Premium Member of the Bankless Newsletter as of May 1st, 2021 you have been subscribed to this newsletter at launch.
Editorial
What is a DAO
Author: scottyk
If you're new to crypto and you're looking to get more involved, then you’ve probably started to explore the world of DAOs. If you’ve been in crypto for a while, you’ve probably joined and contributed to a few DAOs. So let’s all take a step back and make sure we’re all on the same page here. What exactly is a DAO?
We all know it’s a “decentralized autonomous organization”, that much is clear and agreed upon. However, beyond that there really isn’t much in agreement. Why is that? Because it’s a broad tool and it’s really new.
History of DAOs
As with all things crypto, it basically started with Bitcoin. Although most people will never call Bitcoin a DAO, the network itself is run and governed by consensus on-chain and thus could be thought of as the original DAO. However, many people will consider The DAO the first true DAO. It was launched in 2016 and eventually led to a massive hack and subsequent chain split between ETH and ETC.
However unfortunate the outcome was for The DAO it was the genesis of a revolutionary new way for people to work and organize. The DAO raised $150m in ETH from 11,000 people with the intent of pooling the funds and allowing the members to pick how the funds would be dispersed. Basically like a big on-chain VC funding mechanism.
These primitives to this new organizational structure have evolved quite significantly since those early days. There are now a plethora of tools, guides, and other resources to help you along your journey now. However far the ecosystem has advanced, the general premise of The DAO continues to remain the same.
DAO - Decentralized Autonomous Organization
Let’s break it down as the acronym can be a little misleading here. First, “Decentralized” is very clear and it truly means that the organization is decentralized. This is done through some form of token distribution which is used to incentivize the members of the organization. This decentralization allows for all kinds of really cool network effects and is what many consider to be so revolutionary about the concept.
Then, “Autonomous” is thrown in there and many people can get somewhat confused. A DAO isn’t truly autonomous as the name would imply. A DAO isn’t a button that you just push and it magically runs. A DAO requires significant amounts of human and external inputs on a continual basis to keep it running. In fact, a DAO is really only as strong as the community that supports it. Autonomous is used more so in that the organization autonomously exists on-chain and isn't controlled by a central entity.
Lastly, “Organization” can also be somewhat confusing. Yes, most DAOs would like to be organized and work in an efficient manner. However, don’t go into a DAO expecting an organizational structure that most people are used to. Whereas traditional organizations tend to be hierarchical and permissioned, DAOs tend to be horizontal and un-permissioned. Don’t expect to have managers and bosses in a DAO, rather expect to have contributors and members.
Why DAO
The revolutionary aspect of DAOs is that it's a new organizational method for humans to interact together on a much larger scale than traditional organizations. The flat horizontal organizational structure, along with permissionless accessibility, have lots very interesting advantages.
The horizontal organizational structure means that there are more nodes within the organizational network that can produce, interact, and ultimately drive value. This network effect should drastically increase the comparative potential output of DAOs. As any member can come up with the next great idea and/or push forward the next great initiative. The leaders truly are the ones that know what to do next.
The permissionless accessibility of DAOs mean that members can instantly gain access to the DAO and start contributing in a wide array of fashions. New members can join just to look around or they can become a partial investor/owner. Or they could start contributing immediately in whatever fashion they think could help the DAO. This allows for the DAO to easily onboard new members and build communities much faster than traditional organizations.
So why should you join a DAO? Because it’s a much more scalable version of traditional organizations. They inherently work for their members as the members are the owners. They have unlimited growth potential because they aren’t constrained like traditional organizations. Lastly, you should join because they’re exciting. They’re at the forefront of a new technological and organizational revolution that is literally redefining the way people work.
DAOs are the future of work, get on board.
This Month in DAOs
Big news, catchy headlines, accessible content of the DAO ecosystem (not Bankless focused)
DAOs - A New Member Draft
Author: CryptoHamilton
A new DAO member is working to better define what exactly a DAO is and would like the communities support. This article is a draft of that vision and the author is looking for your help. Get on the Google Doc and read through and provide some comments! In true DAO spirit, this article isn't written by just one person, it's a community work piece.
This article is part of the ConsenSys Academy Bootcamp's curriculum and hopefully will be the beginning of more inter-DAO collective information sharing! Be sure to follow @consensysacad, @consensys, and @tesla809 to stay up to date
Announcing the DAOSquare Partnership with BanklessDAO
Author: Typto
BanklessDAO is one of the most famous DAOs in the West, focusing on promoting and building value in the crypto world, and DAOSquare is the most famous DAO in the East, dedicated to building an incubator based on the concept of Web3. The partnership between DAOSquare and BanklessDAO will build a better bridge between the East and the West, thus advancing the promotion of crypto culture and value globally and ecosystem building.
Zodiac: The expansion pack for DAOs
Author: Kei
A composable design philosophy for DAOs, Zodiac is a collection of tools built according to an open standard. The Zodiac open standard enables DAOs to act more like constellations, connecting platforms, protocols, and chains, no longer confined to monolithic designs
Use the Zodiac collection of tools today through the Zodiac App available on Gnosis Safe. Join the Gnosis Guild Discord if you have any questions about Zodiac, and follow @GnosisGuild on Twitter for updates.
DAOs at a Glance
High signal, low noise ecosystem takes, Twitter perspectives, summarize major blog posts/ articles, DAO macrostructures, digest complex topics, educational content rather than news aggregator.
High signal, low noise means clear, strong message. Not diluted by a lot of links and 'noise'.
The Future of Venture Capital
Author: Joel John
Joseph Schumpeter coined the term creative destruction in 1942. Its core idea is that over time, capitalism tends to shift systems towards efficiency. Replacing old, outdated ways of doing things. Web3 and its constant evolution means we can see this occurring in a much shorter period than traditional businesses where it tends to take centuries. I think the last few years have been an excellent example of the venture capital industry undergoing creative destruction. Given the early-stage nature of the technology, the amount of capital available for founders building in it and the individuals deploying it have shifted seismically within less than a decade.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations and the Promise of Utopia
Author: Andrew Ryce
Blockchain-enabled groups, such as Friends With Benefits, invest in their own creative communities using cryptocurrency tokens. This technology has potentially revolutionary implications for the music industry—if harnessed responsibly.
Organization Legos: The State of DAO Tooling
Get Plugged In
Beginner level places to get plugged in: Events, jobs, meetups, hackathons, help guide talent.
Public Calendars
Event Highlights
- ETHGlobal - ETHOnline - ETHGlobal's biggest event of the year. Checkout the link for more specifics as there are lots of events going on!
- MakerDAO - MIP Ratification Polls - These Governance Polls will be active for two weeks, resulting in the acceptance or rejection of Formally Submitted MIPs and Subproposals. https://vote.makerdao.com/polling
- DAOHaus - Haus Party - Every Thursday DAOHaus throws a Haus Party and invites everyone to join! Come check it out and see what's going on in the DAOHaus.
- BanklessDAO - Permissionless Conference - Tickets just went on sale for one of the biggest DeFi conferences! Over 5,000 people will be attending in total and every two weeks 250 more tickets unlock. Once 250 tickets are purchased, registration closes and you’ll have to wait until the next release. Speaking of the next release, your next chance is on October 1st and prices are currently at $316. Speakers include our very own Ryan Sean Adams and David Hoffman, as well as many others. Join us on Tuesday - Thursday, May 17 - 19, 2022 in sunny Palm Beach, Florida for the event.
- FWB - FWB New Member Hang - Welcome to FWB! Join us in the #fwb-voice-chat to learn the ropes with other new FWBers. All are welcome. We’ll talk Discord 101, FWB History, Org Structure + Processes, Channels, Products, and how to Get Involved!
- GitcoinDAO - Moonshot Collective Dogfooding Session - Loose format, around 90+ minutes to show off what you've built and map out the path to completing your project.
Jobs Section
Popcorn Foundation - Community Lead - We are looking for a qualified Community manager to join our marketing team! If you are a self-driven and ambitious tech-savvy professional we would love to meet you! We are expecting you to be experienced in social media, PR and promotional events.
Popcorn Foundation - Senior Software Programmer - We are looking for a bold, curious engineer with high standards to help us create smart contracts for Popcorn. You will be responsible for ensuring consistent, high-quality codebases, technical specifications, deployment scripts, and more.
Tracer DAO - Senior Frontend Web3 Developer - As a Senior Frontend Web3 Developer you will be leading a team of developers to design and build Web3 interfaces for Tracer DAO. You will be given a high level of ownership over your work, the opportunity to expand your knowledge of a fast-growing industry, and the chance to help build the decentralised infrastructure of the future.