Decentraland DAO, powered by Ethereum, is the main governor of Decentraland — a platform of a shared virtual world (“metaverse”). It was introduced in 2015 as “… a proof of concept for allocating ownership of digital real estates on a blockchain.”
During August to December 2017, Decentraland held a first sale of its MANA token and an auction of LAND parcels, the platform’s virtual plots over which users create, exhibit and exchange various VR elements.
Decentraland went public in Feb. 2020, along with the launch of its 1st version DAO. It is a great example of a DAO running a multifaceted online project which is not strictly financial, while having decisions on its most critical aspects, including ground rules, reached by its users. Users’ decision-making power is respective to their holdings of Decentraland’s native tokens, LAND and MANA.
Decentraland and the DAO
Market cap: In April 2021, Decentraland reportedly hosted some 10,000 daily active users. With weekly sales between 280K-3M $US, it now ranks as the 12th largest NFT collection on DappRadar and the largest metaverse by a margin.
The price of 1 parcel of virtual land opened at 1,000 MANA (~106 USD) at Decentraland’s first (2017) LAND auction. Currently, parcels of LAND may be bought for anywhere between 4,000 and 30,000 MANA (at 1 MANA around 1.2 USD). The most expensive plot as of yet was sold in March 2018 for 2,000,000 MANA.
Voting: Decentraland’s new Snapshot DAO has so far registered 48 community proposals in its first 12 days. Of those, 34 already concluded, with 83% passed or finished, and 13% rejected.
How Do I join Decentraland?
To get a taste of Decentraland, one may freely enter as a guest, pick a graphic avatar, connect and validate an email address, and set off to explore. To use most of Decentraland’s features, the user should also connect a crypto wallet with min. 100 MANA and some Ether for transfer fees. Upon sending the MANA over, one may get an avatar name and indulge.
Tokens
MANA is Decentraland’s (ERC-20) fungible, openly tradable token. Owning 100 MANA is the minimum to register as a user. Paying (~4000+) MANA is the only way to acquire a Decentrland plot of land. MANA is earned, spent, and traded for platform collectibles and services.
LAND (ERC-721) is Decentraland’s NFT, transferable for MANA on-platform. 1 LAND represents 1 individual Decentraland parcel — a specific plot of 16*16 virtual meters in the metaverse where users may build and exhibit their content. The platform’s (currently only) city of Genesis consists of 90,601 parcels, tradable save for Plazas and Roads.
MANA and LAND set Decentraland’s DAO governance by endowing community voting power.
Governance
On 24 May 2021, Decantraland announced its new DAO version, incorporating a Snapshot decision-making mechanism, which allows costless, transparent proposal-making and voting. The new DAO owns the bulk of Decentraland’s smart contracts, finance, and development allocations. Its authority is divided between its community, Committee, and Security Advisory Board.
Community governance
To participate in Decentraland’s governance, one should log on as a full user to the governance interface, where MANA holders may propose and Snapshot vote. Proposals are automatically duplicated into discourse cords on the Decentraland Forum.
Community Voting power equals (Total MANA + β*Total LAND) held by the user wallet address (currently β=2,000). The Minimum threshold to proceed on a vote is 1% support and 25% approval; Minimum to pass: 20% support and a majority among casted votes and min. 1 million total voting power on a grant request, 500K on other specific operations.
The DAO Committee
Decentraland’s new DAO Community is meant to enact community decisions with on-chain consequences. The Committee includes three expert individuals selected by the community, who multi-sign “… any passed votes with a binding action”, e.g., funding, changing smart contracts. The Committees’ workings are supervised by the DAO’s Security Advisory Board.
The Security Advisory Board
The Security Advisory Board is meant to act “as the guarantor of Decentraland’s smart contract security”. It is tasked with overseeing the work of the DAO Committee “… and responding to vulnerability and bug reports in any of Decentraland’s contracts”.
The Board includes five expert members initially selected by developers, with the authority to “pause, resume or cancel any action taken by the DAO Committee”. It is specifically bound to address any modification of the LAND or Estate contracts.
Approval of a DAO Committee action requires the support of at least 3 Board members, with zero descent: every member holds veto power over every community decision.
The Decentraland Foundation
The Decentraland Foundation (Decentraland Company) is an independent non-profit established along the DAO to foster the project’s decentralization and neutrality, with a development focus. It was allocated 222M MANA and the property rights over Decentraland’s trademarks. It serves a great role in the platform’s and DAO’s evolution.
The Foundation as such has no standing in Decentraland’s proposal-making or voting. Rather, as Decentraland’s legally accountable arm, it represents a set of off-chain, legal governance demands which bind important aspects of the Decentraland’s framework.
Other governance elements include an elaborated code of ethics, a significant content policy, and a blunt privacy policy — all function as on-chain binding norms of the Decentraland culture.
About DeepDAO
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