Decentralized Autonomous Organization: What is it?

DAOs are the future of governance for tech companies.

What is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)?

Imagine a company just like any other, with employees creating goods or providing services to customers, managers ensuring employees are following the correct procedures, and executives directing the managers with their vision and ideas of what to do next. It is people who direct the flow of money to stockholders, pay salaries of employees, and ensure the company is staying on track.

A DAO, or a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, functions in the same way that regular companies do. Instead of having human employees, however, it has computer code that automates the company and rules that control what it does. It’s a complex set of code that controls how the business works and provides value to people who use it.

Essentially, DAOs are similar to vending machines that restock their own products automatically without any human intervention. DAOs are unique in that the company is self-reliant (autonomous) and aren’t owned by any one organization (decentralized). This is the vision we have for the future of Webblen.

What about Webblen?

Right now, our team has the vision that is directing the future of Webblen. This includes conducting fixes to the app, adding new features, and deciding what type of platform Webblen turns into. Over time, we want to completely decentralize Webblen into a DAO, allowing anyone, anywhere, to use Webblen.

This means that anyone around the world can earn WBLN for attending events and interacting with content. On top of that, businesses and content creators around the world can interact with the Webblen platform by using WBLN to promote their events or market their own content. All of the processes that allow this to happen would happen automatically and autonomously on the Algorand blockchain.

What happens when someone notices part of the vending machine is broken? Or, in the DAO example, what if fixes in the code are required or new features are desired by the DAO’s users? This is the best part — users of the platform have control over the direction of the platform itself.

It’s at this point where Webblen is completely independent from the original Webblen team and anyone can propose and make changes to the platform.‍

Governance of a Decentralized Webblen

On the road toward decentralization, many things need to be separated from the original centralized version of Webblen.

The obvious part is the actual application, the code that dictates the inner workings of Webblen itself.

The non-obvious part is figuring out a way to decentralize Webblen’s decision-making process.

Before turning into a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, the decisions dictating the success of Webblen were made by the Webblen team. Now, the decisions are made by the users.

The governance mechanism needs to be decentralized in a way that most efficiently allows the users of the platform to control the direction of Webblen. There are many methods of going about decentralized governance, but the main idea is this: users who actively use and interact with Webblen have control over the new features, fixes, and direction of Webblen.

Every user of Webblen, once decentralized, will have the ability to propose and vote on new features that should be added or changed.

This is very different compared to traditional businesses. Imagine using an app like Snapchat or Instagram where you could vote for or against what features should be added! This creates a platform that is built by and for the users instead of being built to increase profits for the business.

Benefits of a DAO Over Conventional Businesses

There are many benefits of using a DAO over a conventional centralized business.

The biggest one is that the DAO is completely transparent. If you have any questions about how the platform is run, you can check the code yourself!

Additionally, any changes made to Webblen itself will be because the users want the changes and not as money or power-grab by the company behind the platform. Facebook, Instagram, and countless other technology companies are focused on making money by increasing the addictiveness of their application and selling their user's attention.

A decentralized Webblen will be made and changed with the user in mind, both figuratively and literally.

Although sometimes a disadvantage, the security of the DAO must be pristine to be accepted as a good platform to use. If a DAO doesn’t successfully audit its platform, it can be susceptible to hacks and attacks, just like a centralized technology company is.

The best DAOs will have extremely strong security measures to ensure the protection of the users is at the forefront of its expansion.

For investors, a successful DAO is almost always a better choice than a conventional business. This is because the technology behind a DAO allows margins to be near-infinite. Minuscule, and sometimes zero, maintenance is required for DAOs to function.

For Webblen, our team desires to eventually convert the equity making up Webblen into tokenized securities (completely independent of the WBLN utility token that makes the DAO function).

These tokens would receive weekly dividends that coincide with the Webblen Treasury Distribution Pool payments. Less oversight by individuals that need to get paid for their time (executives, managers, employees) results in more valuable dividend payments that are auditable and transparent.‍

That was a lot of really dense information. Behind all of the technical jargon we are a company that is wholly focused on improving our communities by paying our users to be involved in their communities. If you are interested in being involved in the first-ever decentralized social economy, download Webblen on iOS and Android.

If you’re interested in getting into the weeds of the technology behind Webblen, feel free to read the official Whitepaper.