Control of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations

Ian Appel and Jillian Grennan

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2023, vol. 113, 182-85

Abstract: Blockchain technology has facilitated the emergence of a new type of organizational form, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). In contrast to corporations and other types of business organizations, DAOs do not have managers or directors with formal decision rights. Instead, the members of DAOs collectively make decisions by voting on proposals. The governance process is encoded and executed via smart contracts, negating the need for centralized leadership. We examine the control of DAOs by analyzing 10,639 proposals across 151 DAOs. We find that rather than democratizing decision-making, a small number of entities, often three or fewer, exert control over most decisions.

JEL-codes: D23 D86 G34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20231119

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