Take Action: Part 4, Conclusion of the Why DAOs Series
This is the final article of the Why DAOs Series, which lays out the master thesis for the utility of DAOs. If you haven’t read the series, you can read the summary article or read the articles individually: Part 1, DAO or DIE; Part 2, The New World Order; Part 3, Power to the People.
Take Action
“Without knowledge, action is useless, and knowledge without action is futile.” — Abu Bakr
It’s time to take action on the knowledge you’ve gleaned from reading parts 1, 2, and 3. Here are 4 ways you can do that:
Action 1: Join a DAO
Joining a DAO will give you lots of necessary understanding about DAOs before you think about making your own. It’s a great way to get involved, make friends, and gain an understanding of the space. Joining an existing DAO is also much easier than creating your own.
There are many DAOs you can pick to join. As a part of DXdao I’m biased, but I would recommend DXdao for its commitment to decentralization. DXdao works hard to be decentralized, and hosts all websites and DAO products on ENS domains and IPFS.
Whenever you visit a .com, .org, .finance, .community, etc. — any DNS domain — these are all centrally controlled domains which it’s technologically impossible for a DAO to have full control over. DXdao is a rare DAO that fully owns its own domains on-chain by using ENS as part of its decentralized tech stack.
DXdao’s Governance is done through decentralized on-chain voting, and there’s no wallet or multisig with behind-the-scenes control over the DAO. DXdao is open, and anyone can join the community. To get started, introduce yourself in the Discord and/or Keybase.
A popular DAO to learn more about DAOs is Bankless DAO, which publishes news and educational material.
💪 Take Action: Search for DAOs and do your research about which ones you would like to join. Joining many DAOs to start is good to get a feel for them, but you’ll likely find the most success by focusing on contributing for one DAO at a time — otherwise it’s easy to get overwhelmed and lose focus.
Action 2: Make friends and/or get a job in Crypto
Crypto job postings can be found on the websites of many crypto organizations, but the fact is that most jobs are obtained through networking. By attending crypto meetups, conferences, or hackathons, you’ll make friends and learn more about crypto. You’ll also meet people who are hiring or looking for a Co-Founder. Making friends who share your interest in Crypto and DAOs is a benefit in and of itself.
Getting a job in crypto will enhance your skills and knowledge about crypto, opening up a myriad of opportunities. More importantly, you’ll get to shape the future world economy that’s giving people freedom from monopolistic corporations and authoritarian governments. Developer roles are especially in demand, and it’s never too late to learn — but even if you don’t have any developer skills, crypto project teams also have non-technical roles. Other common crypto jobs include UI/UX design, social media management, graphic design, writing/marketing, sales, and more.
💪 Take Action: First, see if there are any crypto meetups near you — search for keywords like “Crypto”, “Ethereum”, “Bitcoin”, etc. on sites like Meetup and Eventbrite. You can also attend virtual conferences/hackathons, or travel to global events such as ETHGlobal.
Action 3: Build tools for DAOs
People in the rapidly growing DAO space have plenty of enthusiasm, but often lack decentralized tools. Most social media platforms, advertising sites, email services, communication tools, productivity tools, and more remain centrally controlled. By creating decentralized tools which can be controlled through on-chain voting, you will be doing a great service to the DAO space. If the tools your project makes gain adoption, Web3 has unlocked many new ways to earn a living from open-source software, such as by launching a governance token, charging a protocol fee, or even selling NFTs.
💪 Take Action: First, determine the problem your tool would solve and validate the problem (there are many ways to do this, you can search for “startups validate the problem”.) This way you don’t waste time and money building something nobody wants. Finally, start building by yourself or put together the team you’ll need to do it.
Action 4: Create a DAO
Once you’ve become well-versed in the space, you and some friends may join together to create your own DAO. Maybe you’ll create a charity DAO or an art DAO. Maybe your DAO will team up to buy an expensive item to share. Maybe you’ll create a social DAO. Maybe your DAO will create tools for other DAOs. Maybe you’ll come up with something unique which hasn’t been done before. The metaverse is your oyster!
💪 Take Action: Talk with the people you would like to form a DAO with. Define your DAO’s purpose and mission. Create a group for the DAO on your communication platform of choice (Telegram and Discord are both popular). Invite people to join your DAO, and share it on social media.
Conclusion
“Crypto’s decentralized network of value gives you the keys to your freedom…” 🔑
DAOs and crypto are still very early in adoption, much like the internet in 1998. This means Crypto is the land of opportunity, but it’s also like the wild west. Early criticisms of the internet mirror criticisms of crypto today — crypto is seen by many as a place for scams, criminals, tax evaders, and Ponzi schemes. Other people are concerned about crypto mining’s climate effects, despite the fact that Bitcoin mining, the most energy intensive cryptocurrency, is estimated to produce less than 5% of the total emissions of the traditional financial industry. Proof-of-stake blockchains, like Ethereum’s planned upgrade, Ethereum 2.0, use much less energy. Overall, many miss the potential of crypto technology because they believe the mainstream media, which also spread fear about the internet in its early days.
Crypto’s decentralized network of value gives you the keys to your freedom, taking back power from large corporations and big governments. It’s only natural that authoritarian governments and monopolistic corporations are against this new technology that threatens their power.
The potential of DAOs and Crypto is just beginning to be realized, and if you’re here you’re early. Thanks for reading.
