Key Takeaways:
- DAO marketplace DAOStruct claims to be the Bloomberg of DAOs.
- The firm aims to inject more transparency into the decentralized ecosystem.
NEW DELHI (CoinChapter.com) — An Indian startup, DAOstruct, aims to change the Web 3.0 landscape by facilitating the mass adoption of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and making group ownership mainstream, according to its founders.
DAOstruct is the brainchild of Nishu Kumar and Utkarsh Singh. Kumar has previously built and exited a food-tech business and is a serial entrepreneur, but it is his first venture in the web3 ecosystem.
On the other hand, Singh has been a lifer in the tech sector, with his stint at firms like Juno helping his understanding of the Web 3 sector.
Kumar explained that DAOstruct aims to be a single terminal for users to discover, invest, and participate in DAOs. Moreover, the platform also includes a knowledge hub with DAO-related content and videos from thought leaders.
The DAOstruct co-founder believes that all communities would eventually evolve into DAOs since users want “to get ‘something back’ for their participation.“
DAOstruct Would Help Increase Transparency In The Ecosystem
Kumar told CoinChapter that the platform would help users make informed decisions by increasing transparency in the DAO ecosystem. However, DAOstruct has no plans to become a DAO itself in the “foreseeable future.”
Providing actionable intel is how the platform aims to attract users.
We will attract users by providing transparency to DAOs’ data points. For example, information on the DAO treasury, Governance Participation, Proposals, DAO ratings, Sentiment score, etc.
Nishu Kumar told Coinchapter
DAOs are self-governing organizations that aim to democratize the management structure of business and collaborative projects in Web 3. In an ideal world, the governance token distribution among participants would be fairly equal.
However, the token distribution across DAOs is rarely even.
Decentralization issues have plagued DAOs due to whales holding the majority of governance tokens. A 2022 Chainalysis report states that less than 1% of DAO participants held 90% of the governance tokens in the 10 major DAO.
Besides providing actionable data points, DAOstruct aims to attract users by partnering with DAOs. Currently, the platform has partnered with 10 DAOs and is in talks with more.
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Additionally, the top DAOs (by token market cap) have seen a general decline in daily active addresses over the past few months. Kumar addressed the concern, stating that “a decline in holders does not mean that users have moved out of the ecosystem. They are moving within the ecosystem.“
The founder highlighted that users might migrate to other DAOs for better returns or airdrops.
Not A DAO, So No Legal Worries Yet, Says DAOstruct Founder
One of the major challenges that DAOs face includes legal concerns due to the lack of a formal corporate structure. A 2017 SEC report of “The DAO” surmised the organization’s token offerings were investment contracts and, therefore, came under the regulatory body’s purview.
Other DAOs have faced scrutiny from the SEC. Furthermore, given the regulatory environment against cryptocurrencies generally, legal concerns are a serious issue. However, Kumar noted that the firm is safe from regulatory bodies since DAOstruct has no plans for a token launch in the immediate future.
The founder noted that DAOstruct might be doing a token launch next year. Once the token launch is finalized, the firm plans to move to a more crypto-friendly environment, like Singapore or Dubai. Meanwhile, DAOstruct plans to announce a DAO launchpad in June 2023.
DAOstruct markets itself as the ‘Bloomberg for DAOs.’
CoinChapter asked Utkarsh Singh what metrics the firm would use to rate the different DAOs to live up to its chosen moniker. Singh noted that DAOstruct would try to replicate existing rating mechanisms for the Web 3 environment.
In terms of how, similar to Web 2 companies, rating a firm would require metrics tailored to the platform.
Utkarsh Singh told CoinChapter
Singh explained that different Web 3 firms might require different metrics for ratings. For example, to inspect a gaming DAO, the metrics would be to check the number of players and the number of active monthly users.
But, for a firm like Lex DAO, a legal organization, DAOstruct would focus on the number of lawsuits the firm handled.
The DAOstruct founder believed the best method was to treat each DAO individually. Furthermore, the DAOstruct founder stated that evaluation reports on the DAOs would be available to users to promote transparency.
