2023 in DAOs + Web3 - Jan 4, 2024

A retrospective of the most exciting developments in DAOs and web3. Part 1.

🪩 Happy New Year! Happy Old Year! - If history is the best predictor of the future, the future of web3 is inviting, engaging, and evolving! Despite a few high-profile implosions, 2023 was a year of adoption and growth for DAOs and many things web3. Across the globe, DAOs and NFTs received important legal approvals. NFTs gained credibility as virtual property and forms of expression and loyalty. Individuals and corporations built identities and communities in the metaverse. Crowd sourcing ideas and solutions via web3 blossomed. The growing appeal of DeFi was evidenced by the adoption of digital bonds and tokenized assets by organizations including governments and banks. Initially born from optimistic visionaries, web3 and all things blockchain are being increasingly fostered by more mainstream behemoths.

So much happened in 2023, this is just part one of our annual roundup.

Credibility, Accountability, Regulatory Support

🇲🇭 Safe space - The parliament of The Republic of the Marshall Islands recognized DAOs as legal entities, allowing organizations to register as LLCs and adopt DAO structures and governance tools. The law does not hold DAOs responsible for open-source software use. Additionally, the Marshall Islands advanced law provides that most DAO governance tokens are not securities if they don't confer economic rights. The Marshall Islands was also the first to bring into law Series DAO LLCs, allowing sub-DAOs to have separate assets and liabilities.

👮🏻‍♂️ In contrast - A US court ruling declared that banned Ethereum mixing application Tornado Cash held the status of a ‘person’ under law, referencing its founders, developers, and governing DAO. The verdict mirrored a prior lawsuit involving Ooki DAO. The decision is a cautionary reminder to those who believe they can circumvent the law by adopting a DAO structure. Are we all moving to the Marshall Islands?

⚖️ Regulatory embrace - Abu Dhabi Global Market unveiled a regulatory framework for the operation of DAOs and other entities built on distributed ledger technology. The Utah State Legislature passed the Utah DAO Act, granting DAOs legal recognition, limited liability protections, and avenues for decentralization and anonymity. Meanwhile, California established a legal framework for ‘decentralized nonprofit associations’ and blockchain technology with the introduction of Assembly Bill 1229. Offering perhaps the biggest bear hug endorsement, California’s Santa Cruz County implemented blockchain-based solutions on a government level.

🔬 Research + education + approval - Researchers at Singapore University conducted an appraisal of DAO voting schemes and offered a new and improved model. An editorial in Nature Biotechnology recognized DAOs as a revolutionary structure that allows scientists to create transparent research and investment communities and raise funding. Research also explored how DAOs, blockchain, generative AI, and other technologies can be integrated to create open education ecosystems. 

🇨🇳 NFT protection - The Chinese government issued an official commentary on NFT theft and classified NFTs as virtual property protected by law. In the corporate world, the Google Play marketplace policy was updated to allow application developers to integrate digital assets like NFTs into their games.

NFTs and Blockchain Art Blossomed

🎥 Building pop culture - Web3-curated, mythology-inspired, Krapopolis aired on FOX. NFT sales fund Calladita. The NounsDAO franchise continued its expansion with the second installment of The Rise of Blus, an animated movie funded by NounsDAO and created by former animators for Pixar, Netflix, and Marvel.

🎨 Art haus embrace - Sotheby’s Metaverse, the NFT and digital art arm of Sotheby’s, launched ‘Glitch: Beyond Binary’, and hosted its first NFT auction in Paris and in the metaverse. The British Museum partnered with metaverse platform Sandbox to create immersive experiences. Luxury fashion brand Gucci collaborated with 256-year-old auction house Christie’s to release an NFT collection created using generative AI. 

🌁 Let’s get phygital - Diesel bridged the digi-physical divide with Metamorph and the launch of Vert, a collection that includes a digital collectible with each watch purchase. Pseudo-similarly, Louis Vuitton reimagined an iconic piece as a digital collectible, offering owners a sense of how exclusive ownership feels.

🧱 On-chain loyalty - Lacoste invited fans to engage in quests and earn rewards. On a larger scale, Co:Create rolled out an application on Shopify enabling businesses to implement blockchain-based loyalty and rewards programs.

🖼️ Name brand NFTs - Credit Suisse and the Swiss Football Association released an NFT collection supporting women’s football. Ducati and Ripple launched NFTs on XRP Ledger. The National Hockey League belatedly embraced ‘digital collectibles’.

Digital Bonds and Asset Tokenization Grew

💸 Bonds, digital bonds - Siemens broke ground by issuing a $64M digital bond on Polygon. The Philippines Bureau of the Treasury will offer 10 billion pesos ($179M) in tokenized treasury bonds. France’s third-largest bank, Societe Generale, issued its first digital green bond as a security token on Ethereum. 

🚦 All systems go - The London Stock Exchange created a blockchain-based platform offering traditional financial assets. UK investment funds received the green light for tokenization, with the country’s government keen to leverage blockchain technology. The Osaka Digital Exchange kickstarted the trading of digital securities and the Japanese government allowed startups to raise funds through the issuance of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies instead of stocks. JPMorgan also deployed its blockchain-based payment system, JPM Coin, to introduce euro-denominated payments for corporate clients; German conglomerate Siemens conducted the first euro payment on the platform.

🪙 Token romance - Securitize issued the first tokenized equities under the EU’s pilot regime for digital assets; trading began in September. Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank-backed Taurus, which offers custody, tokenization, and trading of digital assets, integrated with Polygon. BOCI, the Bank of China’s investment banking arm, issued tokenized securities worth CNH 200 million ($28M) on Ethereum.

🇺🇸 Stateside - JPMorgan completed its first live blockchain-based collateral settlement transaction with BlackRock and Barclays. Tokenized Apple and Tesla stocks were made available for purchase on Polygon, with a pair of tokenized bond ETFs representing U.S. treasuries. Blockchain auditing firm Hacken became the first web3 company to tokenize its equity through a partnership with Brickken.

That’s not all folks! We’ll share part two of our 2023 roundup next week! So much to look back on; so much to look forward to.

Do you have something that belongs in the DAO + web3 roundup? Let us know at hello@logos.xyz.