Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Started updating docs.
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
  • Loading branch information
@NoahSaso
NoahSaso committed Jan 7, 2024
1 parent f9d567a commit 24ad5d4
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 28 changed files with 357 additions and 292 deletions.
82 changes: 41 additions & 41 deletions docs/introduction/welcome-to-dao-dao.md
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -4,59 +4,59 @@ sidebar_position: 1

# Welcome to DAO DAO

[DAO DAO](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno10h0hc64jv006rr8qy0zhlu4jsxct8qwa0vtaleayh0ujz0zynf2s2r7v8q) is a
DAO
that builds DAOs. We build powerful, [open
[DAO
DAO](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno10h0hc64jv006rr8qy0zhlu4jsxct8qwa0vtaleayh0ujz0zynf2s2r7v8q)
is a DAO that builds DAOs. We build powerful, [open
source](https://github.com/DA0-DA0), DAO tooling.

## Why DAOs?

DAOs are programmable organizations with easily inspectable
states. DAOs can help govern everything from an [Internet community of
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are programmable organizations
with rules and procedures governed by its members. DAOs can help manage
everything from an [Internet community of
dogs](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno1czh5dy2kxwwt5hlw6rr2q25clj96sheftsdccswg9qe34m3wzgdswmw8ju)
to the [development funds of entire
blockchains](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno1gpwekludv6vu8pkpnp2hwwf7f84a7mcvgm9t2cvp92hvpxk07kdq8z4xj2).

Because DAO DAO DAOs operate on a blockchain, they are
transparent by default. This means that votes, the voting power of
members, and actions a DAO takes are all publicly auditable. This can
help provide trust that DAO members are being good stewards of their
communities.

The programmability of DAOs makes them extremely flexible. DAO DAO is
designed as a set of [composable
components](https://github.com/DA0-DA0/dao-contracts/wiki/DAO-DAO-Contracts-Design)
that can snap together like Lego blocks. Communities can pick and
choose pre-built governance components to build a system that works
well for them, or they can program their own.

Any kind of institution can be represented as a DAO. You can launch a
business or an investment group, found a school, or create a popular
assembly for your local community. Our hope is to build a platform
where the challenges of community formation are social, not
bureaucratic.
to the [development of entire
blockchains](https://daodao.zone/dao/neutron1suhgf5svhu4usrurvxzlgn54ksxmn8gljarjtxqnapv8kjnp4nrstdxvff/proposals).

Because DAO DAO DAOs operate on a blockchain, they are transparent by default.
This means that votes, the voting power of members, and actions a DAO takes are
all publicly auditable. This can help provide trust that DAO members are being
good stewards of their communities.

The programmability of DAOs makes them extremely flexible. DAO DAO is designed
as a set of [composable
components](https://github.com/DA0-DA0/dao-contracts/wiki/DAO-DAO-Contracts-Design),
essentially that can snap together like Lego blocks. Communities can pick and
choose among pre-built governance components to create a system that works well
for them, or they can program their own.

Any kind of institution can be represented as a DAO. You can launch a business
or an investment group, found a school, manage an artist collective, or create a
popular assembly for your local community. Our hope is to build a platform where
the challenges of community formation and maintenance are social, not
bureaucratic nor costly.

## Why DAO DAO?

DAO DAO helps you build and operate DAOs with a visual
interface. Usability and accessibility are a priority. Technical and
non-technical communities alike have a space here.
DAO DAO helps you build and operate DAOs by providing a visual interface to
easily interact with the underlying smart contracts that run on the blockchain.
Ideally, DAO DAO abstracts away the complexities of blockchains and lets you
focus on your community. Usability and accessibility are a priority. Technical
and non-technical communities alike have a space here.

DAOs on DAO DAO do everything from helping run
[blockchains](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno1gpwekludv6vu8pkpnp2hwwf7f84a7mcvgm9t2cvp92hvpxk07kdq8z4xj2)
and [decentralized exchanges](https://www.rawdao.zone/) to building
communities of people who [like
dogs](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno1czh5dy2kxwwt5hlw6rr2q25clj96sheftsdccswg9qe34m3wzgdswmw8ju).

DAO DAO DAOs are [IBC](https://www.coinbase.com/cloud/discover/dev-foundations/ibc-protocol) enabled. This means
that your DAO on [Juno](https://junonetwork.io) can manage protocols
and hold assets on any IBC-enabled chain.
DAO DAO DAOs are
[IBC](https://www.coinbase.com/cloud/discover/dev-foundations/ibc-protocol)-enabled,
meaning that your DAO can interact with and manage protocols and assets on any
IBC-enabled chain, like [Osmosis](https://osmosis.zone),
[Stargaze](https://stargaze.zone) and [Juno](https://junonetwork.io).

## Where do I begin?

If you want to get started building a DAO, check out our
[Quickstart](/quickstart/create-a-dao.md) guide.

If you want to understand more about IBC, DAOs, and how all of these
pieces fit together, see [What does DAO DAO
do?](/docs/more-info/what-does-dao-dao-do.md)
If you want to understand more about IBC, DAOs, and how all of these pieces fit
together, see [What does DAO DAO do?](/docs/more-info/what-does-dao-dao-do.md)

If you want to chat with like-minded people experimenting with new governance
tools, hop in our [Discord server](https://discord.daodao.zone).
167 changes: 104 additions & 63 deletions docs/introduction/what-is-dao.md
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -4,85 +4,126 @@ sidebar_position: 2

# What's a DAO?

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are collectively owned governance
systems whose governing software is cryptographically bound to obey the
democratic wishes of members.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are collectively owned governance
systems whose governing software is cryptographically bound to obey the wishes
of its members.

## Proposals

At its simplest, a DAO is an organization where you can vote on proposals.
Proposals are written to an immutable, public ledger (blockchain) - their text,
whether they passed or failed, and who voted on them. Proposals can be natural
language rules or laws (for example, you could run a legislature with them), or
they can be software.
At its simplest, a DAO performs actions through a proposal process. Members
submit proposals to the DAO, which are then voted on by all members. These
proposals—their content, votes, and outcomes—are written to an immutable, public
ledger (e.g. a blockchain). Proposals can contain natural language (e.g. laws,
declarations, etc.), or they can contain software instructions (we call these
Actions in the DAO DAO UI). Thus DAOs can be used to govern anything from a
low-level software protocol to an entire legislature or government.

When a proposal is passed and executed by the members of the DAO, it becomes
canonical. Any actions within the proposal are executed on the blockchain and
take immediate effect. For example, once a proposal to pay someone's salary is
passed and executed, the salary is paid.

:::tip Real examples

[This
proposal](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno10h0hc64jv006rr8qy0zhlu4jsxct8qwa0vtaleayh0ujz0zynf2s2r7v8q/proposals/A6)
in the DAO DAO DAO has a single action associated with it. Only because it was
passed and executed did it take effect. This action was responsible for
upgrading the DAO to v2.1 of the smart contracts, which brought new features.
Conversely, [this other
proposal](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno10h0hc64jv006rr8qy0zhlu4jsxct8qwa0vtaleayh0ujz0zynf2s2r7v8q/proposals/A1)
contained no actions and served only to ratify the constitution of the DAO.

When a proposal passes the DAO's voting period, that proposal becomes canonical.
It will be as "passed" in the ledger, and any *proposal messages* (effectively,
bits of code) will be executed on the chain, modifying the DAO's state.
:::

:::info
The DAO governance process can itself be modified through proposals. For
example, voting rules like the voting period length, or what proportion of
members need to vote yes to pass, can be modified by governance proposals.

For example, [this proposal](https://www.rawdao.zone/vote/11) in RAW DAO (which
governs the [Junoswap DEX](https://junoswap.com)) has proposal messages
associated with it. These messages will _only_ be executed if the proposal
passes and they will change the unbonding period for LPs on Junoswap
automatically.
You can think of DAOs as a big game of
[Nomic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomic#:~:text=Nomic%20is%20a%20game%20in,done%20afterwards%2C%20and%20doing%20it.).
For example, [this
proposal](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno1czh5dy2kxwwt5hlw6rr2q25clj96sheftsdccswg9qe34m3wzgdswmw8ju/proposals/A9)
in Dog Dao updates the DAOs' voting rules to shorten the voting duration and,
thus, make proposals complete more quickly.

:::
## Voting power

The DAO's governance can itself be modified by governance proposals. For
example, the voting rules of the DAO themselves (e.g., how long voting periods
last, what proportion of people need to vote on something for it to pass, etc.)
can be modified by governance proposals.
Because DAOs are programmable, there are infinite mechanisms one could create to
determine a member's voting power. We have created three options that cover the
most common use cases of today:

:::tip Changing the rules by which rules are made
### Members (multisig replacement)

You can think of DAOs as a big game of
[Nomic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomic#:~:text=Nomic%20is%20a%20game%20in,done%20afterwards%2C%20and%20doing%20it.). For
example, [this
proposal](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno1czh5dy2kxwwt5hlw6rr2q25clj96sheftsdccswg9qe34m3wzgdswmw8ju/proposals/A9)
in Dog Dao updates the DAOs voting rules to make the voting duration shorter
and, thus, make proposals complete more quickly.
We call the simplest form of DAO a member-based DAO. This type of DAO has
*static membership*, meaning that the DAO must pass a proposal to change its
members. Adding a new member, removing an existing member, and changing the
voting powers of existing members all must be voted on by existing members
through a proposal. In other words, no individual has the power to change the
membership of the DAO.

This is the DAO structure that replaces the
[multisig](https://www.coindesk.com/learn/what-is-a-multisig-wallet/). Multisigs
can be seen as an early form of a DAO since they solve some of the same issues.
Both offer the ability to require multiple people to approve an action, thus
allowing a group of people to manage assets and make decisions together.

![Membership-based DAO members screenshot](/img/introduction/membership.png)

### Tokens

Some DAOs prefer a more fluid approach to membership, where members can join and
leave the DAO at-will. These DAOs use _governance tokens_ to determine voting
power such that anyone who owns (and stakes) tokens can submit proposals and
vote. These tokens are fungible and may be considered cryptocurrencies if traded
on a market.

Governance tokens are by default freely transferrable, meaning any token holder
can send any amount of their tokens to someone else (thereby changing the
membership of the DAO).

:::tip Tokens are programmable

Through smart contracts on the blockchain, token behavior can be programmed.
Tokens, and thus voting power, can slowly unlock (i.e. vest) over time, or be
entirely frozen such that members cannot transfer to anyone else. Anything is
possible.

:::

## Governance tokens
In some ways, governance tokens are analogous to shares in a corporation.
However, their programmability allows them to become something entirely new.

:::tip Hot take

Some (not all!) DAOs manage voting through *governance tokens*. Like
shares in a corporation, governance token determines your voting
power. A person with 80% of a DAO's tokens will be able to pass things
autocratically. Distributing tokens evenly will give everyone an even
vote, assuming no one trades their tokens.
Most DAOs do *not* need a token. The blockchain ecosystem is token-heavy due to
the role cryptocurrencies have played in the blockchain narrative.

:::tip Tokens are programmable.
Tokens can bring undesirable attention, speculation, and financial expectations,
which may distract from the DAO's purpose. If you do use a token, make sure you
know why and who can acquire it.

You can prevent transfer, vest (i.e. slowly unlock) tokens over time,
and more.
We encourage you to think deeply about whether or not the tradeoffs are worth
it, especially because you can always start as a member-based DAO and then
switch to being token-based later.

:::

## Non-token based DAOs

Most DAOs do not need a token. Those DAOs may use fixed voting weights
to determine voting power. For example, the DAO DAO [Development
Fund](https://daodao.zone/dao/juno130z8079e3dvalal8lw7yu37l99umm0ytzehes00830xl546uu7aqz5akcp)
assigns fixed weights to members. These types of DAOs are often
referred to a "multisigs".

Tokens can be useful when you want very fluid governance with many
members. They also introduce complexity because if your governance
token becomes liquid your DAO will loosen control of what members it
has. Non-token based DAOs add and remove members via vote, so they
don't have this problem.

Additionally, launching a token with a DAO may invite speculators who
will "invest" in your DAO. This may bring expectations and scrutiny as
others could expect your team to spend time increasing the value of
your governance token. For some DAOs, this is desirable, but many DAOs
may want to focus on building out their product and revenue streams.

The current state of DAOs and the blockchain ecosystem is very token
governance heavy. We encourage you to think deeply about if that is
the system that actually works best for you when creating a DAO for
your community. In many cases, a member based DAO may be a better
option. You can always migrate to a token based DAO later.
In DAO DAO, tokens must be "staked" in order to be counted as voting power,
which is analogous to registering to vote. Staked tokens are non-transferrable.
When you want to access your tokens again (in order to transfer or use them
elsewhere), you must unstake them first.

Most DAOs have unstaking durations configured, meaning there is a minimum amount
of time you must wait after unstaking your tokens before they are available to
you. During the unstaking period, the tokens do not count towards your voting
power, and you cannot transfer them. This adds a time cost to staking and
ensures a greater level of participatory commitment from a DAO's members.

![Token-based DAO members screenshot](/img/introduction/tokens.png)

### NFTs

[Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token)
are the non-fungible versions of tokens described above. DAOs that use NFTs to
determine voting power operate in the same way as token-based DAOs.
Loading

0 comments on commit 24ad5d4

Please sign in to comment.