Company Performance Metrics
The DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), works as a decentralized fund management investing in blockchain projects. At first, The DAO will focus on projects related to the sharing economy and Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications of the blockchain – though the organization said it is interested in exploring other “new markets
unlocked by blockchain technology.”The DAO is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (“DAO”) - more specifically, it is a new breed of human organization never before attempted. The DAO is borne from immutable, unstoppable, and irrefutable computer code, operated entirely by its members, and fueled using ETH which Creates DAO tokens. Several aspects of this structure make it revolutionary:
Inclusion: The DAO leverages smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain so that anyone, anywhere in the world can be empowered to participate. In exchange for their early help, participants receive DAO tokens which hold many benefits.
Flexibility: The DAO backs Proposals which it selects for their innovative nature, to be delivered by Contractors. Some of these Proposals could hold no promise of return whatsoever (in the case of a charity for example), others could involve the building of products or services which The DAO could then use for its own purposes.
Profitability and Growth: The DAO charges for the use of its the products or services. This revenue is then sent directly to The DAO in the form of ETH. The DAO then has the option to accumulate this ETH to support its growth, or redistribute it to the DAO Token Holders as a reward.
Autonomous Governance: The ETH held by The DAO will never be centrally managed. DAO Token Holders are able to vote on important decisions relating to the management of The DAO, including the power to redistribute its ETH amongst themselves.
The DAO, represented by smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain at address 0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d3bb8c189413, intends to back a series of Proposals to create products or services. The DAO Token Holders will then leverage these products or services, or charge others for using them.
In June 2016, users exploited a vulnerability in the DAO code to enable them to siphon off one-third of The DAO's funds to a subsidiary account. On 20 July 2016, the Ethereum community decided to hard-fork the Ethereum blockchain to restore virtually all funds to the original contract. This was controversial and led to a fork in Ethereum, where the original unforked blockchain was maintained as Ethereum Classic, thus breaking Ethereum into two separate active blockchains, each with its own cryptocurrency. The DAO was delisted from trading on major exchanges such as Poloniex and Kraken in late 2016.
