DAO

A DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) is an organisation whose rules are encoded in smart contracts and whose decisions are made by token holders via on-chain voting, rather than by a traditional board of directors or management team.

DAOs govern DeFi protocols (MakerDAO controls DAI's parameters), manage investment funds (PleasrDAO, BitDAO), coordinate open-source development, and even buy real-world assets. Treasury management is a key challenge — many DAOs hold large amounts of their own volatile governance token.

Legal status is evolving: Wyoming and Marshall Islands have passed DAO legislation, but most jurisdictions provide no clear framework. Members may have unlimited personal liability, which has led to the development of DAO wrappers and legal entity structures.