Perhaps you’ve heard the term DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) or one of it’s variants thrown around. To the average person, this probably sounds like gibberish. That’s unfortunate because the potential for DAOs to reshape our world is arguably even greater than that of game-changing inventions like the printing press. The topic of DAOs, like many other topics in the cypherpunk and cryptocurrency community, can evoke a discussion of nearly limitless complexity, but this article will cover only the need-to-know and most interesting aspects of this new technology. Up until a few months ago, DAOs were merely a grand idea that had not been fully implemented in the real world. One company, however, has changed that by creating the first, true DAO codebase. That company is Slock.it.

As Stephan Tual, Founder and COO of Slock.it, puts it so eloquently on the official Slock.it blog:

“A DAO is an organization that’s self-governing and not influenced by outside forces: its software operates on its own, with its by-laws immutably written on the blockchain, not controlled by its creators. DAOs are formed by groups of like-minded individuals with specific projects and goals in mind. Its identity is formed through consensus. Its authority is defined through voluntary endorsement and, ultimately, network effects.”

One way to look at a DAO is to think of it as being an artificially intelligent corporation with it’s morality strictly defined in it’s original code. Stakeholders in the DAO can decide how its capital is used, whether it be to fund little Billy’s lemonade stand or big Bob’s Presidential campaign…

Quelle: Slock.it & the Democratically Controlled Code that Could Make Corporations Obsolete – Millennial Investor