DAO (decentralized autonomous organization)

Members join such a digitally-connected community by contributing tokens or coins. The ante earns voting rights that then determine what to do with the ante, or it may give members other ways to share their voice and direct the group's efforts.

A DAO is generally not entirely decentralized, as someone must start it and set the rules; this founding body or team sets up the DAO for their own advantage and perhaps the advantage of their members.

Another challenge to the DAO's centralized nature comes from whether DAOs cap voting power. One version of a DAO could involve all members contributing 10 shares, coins, or tokens, and if everyone has one vote per share, they all have the same voting power. A common property of DAOs, however, is that members who have bought more shares claim more voting power. Power then is centralized in those with the most shares. The opportunity for the wealthiest members of a society to make their votes count more should be a familiar concept wherever you, the reader, are likely to live.

Expect DAOs to be less autonomous too as existing organizations embrace them. In such a scenario, the organization would confer limited power to the DAO to ensure it functions more like a task force than a board of directors.

DAOs should not be confused with Daoism, as it is in many ways the complete opposite. Core to Daoism are the principles of yin and yang which show the interconnectedness of all things; that harmony does not fit well with supposedly autonomous DAOs. One of Daoism or Taoism's Three Treasures is frugality, which also tends to not be emblematic of most DAOs.