With the emergence of Blockchain technology and smart contracts, it’s now possible to create companies whose function supports peer-to-peer relationships. A Decentralized Autonomous Organization,  shortened to DAO, is an organization governed by its members through consensus. Rules are then written into a set of contracts executed by computer code that automates the management of the organization.

DAOs require tokens that the organization can use to reward activities within it. By investing in DAOs, investors get the right to vote when making decisions on the development of the organization. Anyone who has bought a stake in DAOs can make suggestions about its future. Ideally, DAOs are completely autonomous and independent from their creators.

1 – Digix

Digix is the first distributed autonomous organization on the Ethereum Blockchain, and was one of the first Ethereum ICOs. Digix is a digital platform that exchanges tokens for gold. There are 2 tokens: DGX (Digix Gold Tokens) and DGD (Digix DAO Tokens).

DGX software token is a right to own gold. 1 DGX = 1 gram of gold (the token is fully backed with gold bars). Gold is stored in The Safe House vault in Singapore. Digix DAO’s storage facility is subject to continuous independent audits by Bureau Veritas, as well. According to the Protocol of Provenance, the number of DGX tokens is always equal to the grams of gold in the vault, the ownership of which is ensured by tokens.

DGD, in turn, is not supported by gold. DGD gives the holder the right to vote on how Digix uses the funds raised to develop the Digix platform. Each DGD token is subject to quarterly dividends, calculated from the cost of transactions as well as fees associated with the registration of gold and its use.

2 – MakerDAO

A decentralized stablecoin whose value is approximately equal to 1$. The Dai Stablecoin system is a decentralized tool for creating a stable token that allows the value of a certain price threshold guaranteed by the mechanism design. The Maker is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization built on Ethereum, on which the MKR token works together with Dai. In essence, the Maker is for the lower volatility of the prices of the Dai in relation to the US dollar.

Token Maker works as a management or token utility that also functions as a recapitalization resource. The owners of the MKR vote for the adoption of the token solutions proposed for the modification of the Maker network, or solutions for the creation of these proposals. Voting is held regularly and proposals are generally related to risk control and security. There is a delay between the voting results and the implementation to prevent massive purchases of MKR to manipulate the voting results.

3 – DAOstack

DAOstack is an operating system for collective intelligence. DAOstack aims to create incentives for future collaboration and self-organizing teams. By using this platform, open source developers can collaborate to create a wide range of DApps. The platform launched in 2018 and today, thanks to the use of this platform, it has become easier for independent organizers to unite and create launch operations, companies, non-profit organizations, etc.

The basis of the project is a model of a configurable company, assembled as cubes of organizational primitives (“schemes”, “restrictions”, etc.) presented in the form of smart contracts.

There are two tokens in the DAOstack system: the reputation token, which determines the strength of the voice, and the Gen token, whose owners can use to “bid” or participate in offers through the DAO ecosystem.

4 – IMMO

A project wrapped in a mystery and rumors. There are suggestions that one of the largest bankers’ dynasties or people close to it are involved in the the development of IMMO. The issue of IMMO cryptocurrency is discussed by such experts as Jimmy Song and Tim Draper as well as at the heads of finance of the G20 countries.

IMMO aims to create a token backed by valuable resources, and thus has an intrinsic value. IMMO has not yet announced the start of the investment round, but already produced a set of High1000 participants who will regulate the development of the project. High1000 is a decentralized cryptocurrency community consisting of experts and evangelists. High1000 plays a leading role in the project concept. High1000 will vote for certain changes in IMMO, being the guarantor of the rights of all investors of the project. Members of this community will receive bonuses depending on the level of involvement and awareness of the project.

5 – The DAO

The first noticeable implementation of DAO on the Ethereum smart-contract, which never managed to prove its viability. The DAO was the largest project of its kind, which managed to collect more than 150 million US dollars in less than a month. Launched on 30th of April, 2016, it was  hacked on the 17th of June of the same year. As a result of hacking, the hacker stole at $50 million in Ethereum (valued at the time). The situation with The DAO caused a real panic in the market and led to a serious collapse of the Ethereum rate. In order to prevent the hacker from gaining control over the stolen funds, the Ethereum network effectively rolled back transactions. As a result, the network was divided into 2 Ethereum blockchains: ETH and ETC.

Although many see it as a failure because of the hack, the DAO’s effect cannot be understated. In May 2016, before the hack, TechCrunch described The DAO as “a paradigm shift in the very idea of economic organization. … It offered the first vision of complete transparency, total shareholder control, unprecedented flexibility, and autonomous governance.