Article

DAO

August 22, 2026 · Aditya Gupta

Crypto & Blockchain

A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is a community-governed entity recorded on a blockchain — decisions made by token-holder voting rather than executive teams. Examples: MakerDAO (DAI stablecoin), Uniswap (DEX), Compound (lending), ENS (domain names). DAOs can manage treasuries (sometimes billions), protocol parameters, grants, partnerships. Governance challenges: voter apathy (low participation), plutocracy (wealthy holders dominate), legal ambiguity (DAOs aren't recognized entities in most jurisdictions). Wyoming and a few other states have created DAO LLC frameworks. DAOs work best for protocol governance with clear scope; less effective for general business operations.

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