DAO Examples and Structure
How DAO organizations work in practice — MakerDAO, Uniswap, Gitcoin, Nouns.
DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is an organization governed by token holders through on-chain voting — without CEO or hierarchical structure.
How DAO works:
•Token = voting right (1 token = 1 vote typically)
•Proposal: anyone can propose a change
•Voting: token holders vote for/against
•Execution: automatically through smart contract
DAO examples:
MakerDAO:
•Manages DAI stablecoin protocol
•MKR token = voting power
•Votes on: interest rates, collateral, parameters
•$8B+ TVL under DAO governance
Uniswap DAO:
•UNI token = governance
•Voted on: fee switch, grant programs, chain deployments
•$3B+ protocol treasury
Gitcoin DAO:
•Funding open source projects
•Quadratic funding mechanism
•GTC token, grant rounds
Nouns DAO:
•NFT DAO — 1 Noun NFT = 1 vote
•1 Noun auctioned every day (infinite)
•Revenue goes into DAO treasury
•Votes on: partnerships, grant programs
DAO problems:
•Voter apathy — small % of tokens vote
•Whale domination (rich control)
•"Governance attack" (Beanstalk)
•Slow, complex processes for urgent decisions
Trend: subDAOs for specialized functions (operations, grants, legal)