Top 10 DAO Use Cases in Various Industries
Explore the top 10 DAO use cases in various industries and discover how startups can build DAO platforms and scale new ventures.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are an evolving component of the crypto ecosystem, designed to manage digital communities and assets without centralized governance. Originating from Ethereum and DeFi projects, DAOs now also govern various sectors beyond crypto, such as finance, healthcare, and entertainment. Their transparent and community-focused structure fosters innovation in governance and commerce, automating decision-making and empowering communities to explore new governance models.
This blog explores the common use cases of DAOs across various industries, highlighting their growth beyond traditional blockchain frameworks. Whether you’re a startup founder, investor, or simply curious, this entry outlines how DAOs create opportunities to operate outside conventional systems while enhancing efficiency, transparency, trust, and cooperation for a better future.
Why Do DAOs Matter Across Industries?
DAOs are more than just a passing trend in crypto. They mark a step forward in how we can govern communities together in a decentralized way. DAOs can be useful in many industries by removing middlemen and allowing people to work together without needing to trust each other completely. This leads to new opportunities for inclusion, innovation, and efficiency.
Democratised decision making
DAOs provide stakeholders, whether investors, users, or contributors, an equal vote on decisions. This structure reduces centralization and bias while providing a fairer and more inclusive governance model.
Global and borderless participation
DAOs allow anyone with internet access to participate, removing geographical and institutional barriers to participation and opening up any project to global ideas, talent, and funding.
Transparency and accountability
All DAO actions, from votes to fund allocations, are on a public blockchain. This instills trust and reduces the risk of fraud or mismanagement.
Ideal for Web3-native organizations
DAOs fully encompass the ideals of Web3 as they empower decentralised ownership, incentivised participation, and token-governed ecosystems.
DAOs are changing how organizations work by being more inclusive, efficient, and transparent. They help communities share ownership of digital platforms and work together across borders. This creates a flexible framework that can be used in various fields. For startups, this means new ways to do business, find funding, and manage governance. Now let us see…
Top 10 DAO Use Cases Across Various Industries
As a governance structure, DAOs have matured beyond a novel concept in crypto communities to an authentic facilitator of industries seeking transparency, decentralization, and community empowerment. This list of top 10 DAO use cases provides a snapshot of where DAOs are addressing real issues and creating business opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs and startups.
1. DeFi (Decentralized Finance)
DAOs are central to the decentralized finance movement. Services like MakerDAO allow token holders to manage a system of stablecoins. Compound and Aave let the community vote on proposals, such as interest rates and loan types. DAOs in the DeFi world are intended to provide financial services to communities that would not otherwise have them due to a lack of traditional banking options.
Think about launching industry-specific DeFi platforms controlled by DAOs. For example, loans to farmers, peer-to-peer lending for developing countries, small loans for students. You could also provide facilities for DAO governance, treasury management, and risk modeling for new DeFi startups.
2. NFT-Powered Investment
NFT DAOs are groups that pool money to invest in valuable NFTs, virtual land, or digital collectibles. Examples like PleaseDO and Flamingo DAO show how communities can jointly buy high-value NFTs. NFT DAOs give members a chance to invest in rare assets through fractional ownership, making it accessible for more people.
Think about building NFT investment DAOs for niche areas. These could focus on indigenous art, vintage sports collectibles, or film rights. Provide useful tools that include valuation tools, voting mechanisms, and smart contracts that handle revenue sharing from NFT sales among members.
3. Crowdfunding
DAO-based crowdfunding platforms empower communities to fund projects without middlemen. Programs like MolochDAO and Juicebox allow contributors to track how their funding is used, which boosts trust and reduces mismanagement risks.
Consider creating a toolkit for starting a profit or non-profit DAO and fundraising. This could help NGOs, startups, indie filmmakers, or sustainable software projects. Include features like milestone-based funding releases, contributor rewards, and analytics so supporters can monitor funding performance. You might also want to add identity checks to reduce the chance of fraud.
4. Social DAO
Social DAOs bring together people with shared interests, such as investing, creating, or learning. For instance, Friends With Benefits (FWB) is a decentralized club focusing on events and content created collaboratively. Social DAOs often have tokens that grant access to the community, indicate member status, or allow votes on initiatives.
You can develop Social DAO platforms for various groups, including content creators, alumni, professional guilds, or activist movements. Plan to include features like token-gated community forums, member analytics, rewards for contributions, and tools for managing events.
5. Supply Chain Management
DAOs can increase supply chain accountability and transparency. Using blockchain, all of the players, including farmers and grocery stores, can confirm the aspect of a product’s journey. This could assist with preventing fraud, promoting sustainability, and enabling real-time auditing.
You can also build plugins and tools for DAOs in areas like cooperative farming, fair trade networks, and ethical fashion. Include smart contracts for automating logistical and payment services, dispute resolution, etc. Finally, be sure to explore partnerships with IoT providers to collect real-world data about the product, such as temperature or location, and write it to the blockchain.
6. Enterprise Governance
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are a new way to run a business that abandons traditional hierarchical management. DAOs enable employees, customers, and investors to make decisions on policies, budgets, and product roadmaps through token-based voting. DAO voting is fully decentralized and transparent, enabling more participation from all parties, especially for distributed or remote teams, and is a step away from more traditional hierarchical management engagement.
As SMEs and Web2 businesses shift to DAO and hybrid governance models, they will need expert assistance to implement business models, tokenize ownership, manage DAO payroll, and establish compliant voting systems. By showcasing your consulting expertise, you can help businesses navigate these transitions and achieve their financial, political, and organizational goals.
7. Metaverse
The metaverse is an ideal platform for carrying out DAO functions. Virtual world platforms like Decentraland DAO let users vote on community guidelines, funding, and improvements to their digital spaces. DAOs can ensure that users have fair ownership and governance over their data, aligning with Shane’s idea of “person-owned social graphs,” which protect user footprints in the metaverse.
You could create DAO toolkits to help metaverse creators manage avatar standards or develop community-run events. You can also connect VR platforms, DAOs, and blockchain-based identity systems through API features. There’s also potential to create rental marketplaces for DAOs to rent or offer digital asset rentals.
8. Healthcare
DAOs can transform healthcare by allowing patients, researchers, and practitioners to jointly manage how data is used, funding is allocated, and clinical trials are conducted. Projects like VitaDAO show how community funding can support biomedical research, enabling contributors to vote on the studies they want to fund and track results.
You could launch a health-focused DAO for specific patient groups (e.g., rare diseases) that features secure data storage, rewards for research participation, and collaborative research grant decisions. Partnering with hospitals and researchers can help integrate Web3 technology with real-world medical practices.
9. Gaming
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) allow players to have a say in game development and changes. Players can vote on game updates, asset usage, and token economics. Gaming projects like Axie Infinity and Illuvium are already using DAO governance to enhance community involvement and loyalty.
You could develop no-code tools for indie game studios to easily set up DAOs for managing in-game economies, asset designs, and expansions. DAOs can govern reward distribution, issue NFTs, and oversee eSports tournaments. Additionally, you could create DAO infrastructure for gaming guilds.
10. Finance (Beyond DeFi)
DAOs can change traditional finance, including venture capital, insurance, and savings. Investment DAOs, such as The LAO, enable members to pool funds and invest in startups. Insurance DAOs enable the community to vote on claim approvals, increasing transparency and speed.
Smart contracts can automate investment pooling, claim payments, and governance voting processes. You could provide tools to ensure legal compliance so that DAOs can operate across borders.
We’ve seen various DAO use cases, from decentralized lenders to social clubs and healthcare trials. DAO enhances efficiency, automates processes, and increases transparency, all while promoting inclusivity. They are actively transforming how businesses, communities, and individuals manage funding across different sectors.
These trends create opportunities for startups to develop tools, platforms, and services for both Web3-native and traditional businesses. Now, let’s explore how to start your own DAO or help others establish theirs!
DAO Development — Opportunities for Startups
DAO development provides ample opportunities for startups looking to be among the first movers in the decentralized economy. As industries continue to transition to transparent models led primarily by communities and with transparency, there will be increasingly greater opportunities for platforms that can create, manage, and scale DAOs.
Startups can create DAO infrastructure such as governance frameworks, treasury tools, token management systems, and decision-making interfaces for non-technical users to adopt DAOs more easily. There are also ample opportunities to create DAO-as-a-service platforms to help businesses, creators, and communities launch their own DAOs without having to write code, which can be more scalable and drive recurring revenue.
Beyond the infrastructure, startups can also focus on DAO development for niche verticals, like DeFi governance, co-ownership of NFTs, or research funding for healthcare, with specific features and compliance for specific industries. There are greater opportunities for DAO-related services in legal structuring, security auditing, community onboarding services, etc, which can provide startups with ancillary revenue sources.
In other words, DAO development is not simply a technology trend; it provides startup companies with an opportunity to use the model to drive a new business model and deploy scalable, impactful solutions across industries while leading the charge for a decentralized future.
Conclusion
DAOs are emerging as viable governance models for areas like finance, gaming, health care, and supply chains. For startups, this evolution is an opportunity to be creative and disrupt traditional business structures by utilizing transparent and community-driven ecosystems.
If you are a startup planning or considering starting your own DAO platform, now is the best time to do so. Rather than building everything to launch your DAO from scratch, you could partner with an experienced DAO development company that has the capacity and technical skill to provide the infrastructure needed to launch your platform. By engaging with a trusted partner in development, the startup can conserve time to launch, build regulatory frameworks, and, most importantly, focus on its community and impact.
