Ethereum's DAOs Continue to Gain Momentum

Ethereum's largest hackathon in North America, ETHDenver, showcased DAOs for event management and more.

From coordinating the hackathon's winners to purchasing meals at Capitol Hill food trucks in Denver's historic Capitol Hill neighborhood, DAOs ran ETHDenver.

Even the winning hackathon team was a DAO: Coz, a project aimed at being more efficient at distributing aid than non-profits, won the hackathon and $3,000 worth of DAI.Through interviews conducted with multiple teams at ETHDenver earlier this month, it became apparent that this isn't 2016's DAO, and ethereum classic consensus algorithm).

A 15-year community organizer hailing from Brazil, Duarte said DAOs are quickly evolving into social organizations that add value to society.

DAOstack founded DAOfest, an event team that conducts dozens of DAO community gatherings around the globe based on the Genesis DAO protocol.

Duarte said Genesis DAOs can have up to 350 people working within them, identifying problems while working within group guidelines.

Lou Kerner, co-founder and CEO of community VC firm CryptoOracle, said DAOs take out the middleman and solve collective problems for the community.

While ETHDenver's BuffiDAO, Coz, MetaCartel and DAOstack are looking to overturn the negative stereotype associated with DAOs, one is running headlong into the problem: OpenLaw's LAO.First announced at ETHBerlin 2019, the ConsenSys-backed OpenLaw told the ETHDenver crowd it intends to raise $2.5 million for a new DAO venture fund it describes as similar to a limited liability company.

In a phone interview with CoinDesk, OpenLaw CEO Aaron Wright said the firm has worked hard to address the legal questions presented by the first DAO.Even before the DAO split the ethereum community in half, the legality of pooling investor funds into a smart contract was questioned.

At ETHDenver, it became clear that DAOs are still in the audit phase, as highlighted by the experience BuffiDAO itself.