This week in DAOs - Oct 13, 2022
A roundup of the most exciting developments in the DAO space.
🎙 In the latest episode of DAO or Never, Jon Hillis, Caretaker at Cabin, discusses intentional communities, the importance of building IRL connections in web3, and why balancing decentralization and leadership is so important. Whether rooted or nomadic, introverted or extroverted, if you’re curious about physical-world web3 communities, tune in. Also available on Apple and Spotify.
Highlights
🏦 Cautiously interested. Bain & Company research shows private investment in web3 exceeds $80 billion. Though adoption by the world’s most prominent financial players is slow due to a lack of regulation, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Sumitomo Mitsui have begun exploring web3 beyond cryptocurrencies, including NFTs and asset tokenization. When will they discover the beauty of DAOs?
💥 DAO Funds and venture capital. DAO investment funds such as BitDAO, Orange DAO, The LAO, and VC3 DAO are known for democratizing access to web3 investments. Their automated investing systems reduce the hierarchies of fund sourcing, and allow member-investors to receive rewards for supporting projects they believe in. DAO Funds could become the future of venture capital, decentralizing investment opportunities and enabling participation from a larger pool of investors.
🚀 A step for Ethereum, a leap for web3. Polygon’s Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) testnet is live after a development cycle that was much faster than anticipated. A layer-2 construction on top of Ethereum that aims to improve scalability, zkEVM offers greater capital efficiency while enabling businesses to build fast, low-fee, decentralized applications on Ethereum.
⏰ The clock is ticking. Despite DeFi Education Fund throwing in their support, Ooki DAO still hasn’t responded to the CFTC. Are they scared? Ooki DAO risks automatically losing the case if it doesn’t meet the Friday deadline. Why do we care? Because precedent matters; Ooki DAO is all DAOs right now.
🗣 Representation matters. 3OH DAO aims to advance web3 and decentralization policymaking by becoming the trusted voice of web3 to government officials in DC and around the globe. 3OH DAO will educate policymakers on the benefits of blockchain technology and champion policies that advance the web3 community.
🎥 Silver screen on chain. StoryDAO aims to unlock and reward the talents of creators and fans worldwide by building an open Hollywood production platform. Learn more in this recent interview!
💸 This feels like an Escher drawing. Maker DAO, web3’s largest DeFi lending community, announced a plan to invest $500 million in short-term US treasury bonds and investment-grade corporate bonds in efforts to diversify its balance sheet while backing its stablecoins.
🧠 Brainiac DAO. NeuraDAO, a top DeSci participant in Gitcoin’s GR15, is interviewing for its technical and community working groups. Participants will join the mission to improve neurotechnology research and development processes.
🗳️ We’re evolving! A recent study suggests we are experiencing the third wave of DAOs due to the proliferation of tools and infrastructure supporting their efficient management. This research further explores the historical origins of DAOs and how they impact the world.
Show Me the Money
🧱 Building Blockchain Better. Congrats to nxyz on your $40 million Series A round led by Paradigm, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Capital. The web3 platform aims to facilitate a better internet by providing more efficient blockchain indexing and data infrastructure.
🛍 Everybody ❤️s commerce. Congrats to Rye on your $14 million funding round led by web3 VC juggernaut a16z. Rye’s e-commerce API, planned for the Solana blockchain, will allow merchants and customers to transact openly with minimal fees.
💰 Silver lining? The latest victim of a cross-chain bridge exploitation is the Binance Smart Chain. Thanks to validators, a worst-case scenario $570 million loss was avoided, and actual damages totaled only $100 million.
Recommended Reading
📖 Reinventing Organizations by Frédéric Laloux. An essential read covering the origins of the ideas present in the DAO movement. Laloux gives the fundamentals of Teal organizations, explains how to operate in decentralized organizations without hierarchies, and offers tactical advice on properly structuring such an organization. Most compelling, Reinventing Organizations provides a unique look at human evolution and how organizations track with our stages of consciousness.
Deadlines and Events
🇪🇸 October 13 - 15: Ibiza NXT
🇺🇸 October 18 - 19: I.D.E.A.S
🇵🇦 October 26 - 28: ETH.Panama
🖥 November 3: DAO Ops (online)
🌁 November 4 - 6: ETHSanFrancisco
🇵🇭 November 14 - 18: Philippine Web3 Festival
🌏 All Over, Often: ETHGlobal
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