This week in DAOs - Jan 19, 2023
A roundup of the most exciting developments in the DAO space.
🎙 In the latest episode of DAO or Never, Logos co-founders Geoffrey Arone and Isaac Patka are full of optimism for the events and emerging trends anticipated in the new year. Hear why ‘DAOs are born in Denver’ and learn about specific DAOs bringing new protocols and purpose to the DAO space. Available on Apple and Spotify.
Highlights
💡 DAO Functionality - The emergence of DAOs has brought new challenges around organizational governance, treasury management, and legal matters. Access to information about these issues can be limited due to the relative newness of DAOs. The DAO Research Collective aims to address this void and accelerate the functionality of DAOs by procuring and providing open-source research fundamental to the effective operation of DAOs.
💰 DAO Drops - Congratulations on the launch of DAO Drops, an experimental, retroactive, public goods funding mechanism. DAO Drops aims to support underfunded projects that are making impactful contributions to the Ethereum ecosystem, and empowers Ethereum users to nominate deserving players and directly allocate funds. The first round will distribute $250,000 USDC.
🇪🇺 A Giant Leap for DAOs - At this year’s World Economic Forum, Finland’s communications minister, Timo Harakka, argued that the EU should consider legislation recognizing DAOs. Such legislation could prevent the need to alter thousands of laws, and also prevent countries from undercutting each other in an attempt to attract innovative businesses.
🏡 Won’t You Be My Neighbor - Calling all creators! The Cabin Creator Residency is open at Neighborhood Zero. Each month, a unique opportunity is offered for creators to live in a picturesque cabin in the Texas Hill Country, completely free of charge. The program aims to provide a serene and inspiring environment in which creators can focus on their craft. Applications for the March residency are due January 24th.
⚚ Cured by DAOs - Orrick partners Joseph Perkins and Stephen Thau explain how early-stage biotech startups can use DAOs as an alternative source of capital, giving early-stage companies the boost they need, particularly in tight capital markets.
Someone Call Security
🚨 Alert - Web3 super sleuth and Logos co-founder, Isaac Patka, discovered that a phishing site appears as the top ad result for Boson Protocol. Note, this is not the fault of Boson Protocol, which announced that they do not buy ads and therefore any paid placements should be treated with caution. Always exercise vigilance when clicking on ads. Double-check the URL and verify multiple points of contact on a website, such as Twitter, Discord, and blogs, before connecting your wallet or confirming any transactions.
Show Me the Money
🪶 Cultural Heritage - Congrats to Quantum Temple on your $2 million pre-seed round led by Borderless Capital, Shima Capital, and the Algorand Foundation. Quantum Temple is working with ancestral communities and plans to create a blockchain-based platform using NFTs to help preserve cultural heritage.
📝 Social Smart Contracts - Congratulations to Easy on your $14.2M seed round to fund the creation of the first “social” web3 wallet, designed to help onboard more mainstream audiences into the web3 ecosystem.
🇦🇪 Dubai Goes DeFi - Abu Dhabi-based Venom Foundation and Iceberg Capital are set to launch a $1B venture fund to invest in web3 and blockchain. The billion dollar vehicle will invest in pre-seed to Series A rounds for web3 protocols and decentralized applications (dApps) that align with emerging trends like payment systems, asset management, DeFi, banking services, and gaming-related finance (GameFi).
Recommended Reading
🧱 DAO Building - Bringing your existing community into web3 requires a true understanding of how decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) work. In How to Turn Your Community Into a DAO, Lia Savillo details how to model your structure after other DAOs and successfully transition your community into web3.
🌍 DAO Toolkit - The World Economic Forum released the Decentralized Autonomous Organization Toolkit, providing a starting point for DAOs to develop effective operational, governance, and legal strategies. This is not the first time the WEF has taken a look at DAOs, or even its first toolkit.
🤝 Cooperative Web3 - Towards a More Cooperative Web3 explores the intersection of platform cooperativism and the web3 movement. The authors identify key takeaways from the history of cooperatives that can be applied to developing new internet platforms and protocols, and also address the challenges platform cooperatives face in scaling alternative models of ownership and control.
Deadlines and Events
💰 January 17-January 31: Gitcoin Alpha Round
🗣 Apply to Attend/Sponsor/Speak at ETHDenver 2023
🏔 February 24-March 5: ETHDenver 2023
🍊 February 27-March 5: Web3 Week, Miami
🔬 Apply for VitaDAO Funding
🥐 March 20-24: Paris Blockchain Week
🎓 April 2-4: DAO Harvard
🇦🇹 April 3-6: EDCON
🤠 April 26-28: Consensus 2023
Do you have something that belongs in the DAO Weekly Roundup? Make sure we know about it at hello@logos.xyz.