DAOstack (founded 2017) is an open source project advancing the technology and adoption of decentralized governance. DAOstack is designed to catalyze the future of collaboration. It’s a platform for decentralized governance that enables large communities to self-organize around common goals and values, easily and efficiently. DAOstack is sometimes called an operating system for collective intelligence, or a Wordpress for DAOs.

The platform, launched in mid-2018, includes a modular smart contract framework, a friendly developer environment (JavaScript), and an intuitive user interface that allows anyone to create or participate in a decentralized organization with no technical knowledge.^[1][2]

DAOstack Architect

Matan Field (born 7th May) is the Co-Founder and CEO at DAOstack, he is referred to as the architect of DAOstack.^[3] He is a theoretical physicist and entrepreneur who works hard to drive adoption of decentralization. He currently resides in Yodfat, Israel. He speaks two languages, namely English and Hebrew.^[4] He began his career as a theoretical physicist, having completed his PhD in theoretical physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Matan Field is the lead architect of DAOstack, a comprehensive toolkit for decentralized collaboration at scale. The DAOstack is built on an open, modular and upgradable architecture, it includes the governance and economic framework needed for collectives to self-organize around shared goals and interests.^[5]

Overview

DAOstack is an open-source software stack designed to support a global collaborative network. The stack can be used to build organizations for any kind of collective work, and it also contains tools to link these organizations together so that as the network grows, all its member organizations are strengthened. Organizations built on DAOstack belong in a new category of structure called Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). A Decentralized autonomous organization, sometimes labeled a decentralized autonomous corporation, is an organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by shareholders and not influenced by a central government.

Blockchain enables new forms of human association that combine the scale and efficiency of free markets with the alignment and coherence of startups. The future of work involves networks self-organizing around shared goals and interests and a new economy where cooperation is the winning strategy.

Approach

DAOstack is a complete operating system built on the Ethereum blockchain for decentralized coordination.

"The first principle of designing the DAO stack was not to build a specific protocol or a specific application, but rather to build the soil, the ground from which a whole ecosystem can grow and thrive". By Matan Field, DAOstack architect.

DAO Stack

DAOstack provides the basic resources for the creation, operation and governance of DAOs, internally and externally within a broader ecosystem. The DAOstack ecosystem consists of a multitude of distinct but interoperable DAOs, interacting with each other to maximize the potential value of open and distributed collaboration.

• Infra: This is the base layer of the stack. It houses the most basic, decentralized governance backend software modules, such as voting machines and voting permissions systems such as DAOstack's Reputation System.
• Arc: This expands to create a complete library of modules to build the back ends of DAOs on Infra. Built also on Ethereum, Arc contains the master contracts that co-ordinate all the different DAO pieces together, as well as any number of flexible "schemes" that enable other DAO functions.
• ArcGraph: This is a caching layer based on The Graph which collects, stores, and organizes blockchain information, enabling DAOstack-based applications to achieve quick load times.
• Application Layer: Participants or creators of decentralized Organizations are to interact with the stack primarily through the dApps (decentralized applications) that use Infra, Arc, and ArcGraph for their backends.
• Alchemy: This is the first production-ready application built on the stack. It is an intuitive user interface for participating in decentralized Organizations governance. It lets projects seamlessly govern themselves, allocating shared resources and making effective decisions at scale.
• ArcHives: The service of the ArcHives is to organize and curate the modules within each layer.^[6]

DAO Use Cases

1. Grants DAO : Decentralized autonomous organizations designed to manage existing shared assets and work towards a common goal.
2. DAO controlling an application : DAO-controlled applications - imagine versions of Facebook or Uber developed and managed by their own communities .
3. Physical DAO : Decentralized autonomous organizations that manage physical spaces, like co-working spaces, condominiums, or cafes.
4. Alliance DAO : Decentralized autonomous organizations uniting broad coalitions to work on common issues, such as environmentalism and legal protection.

Genesis DAO

The Genesis DAO is a Grants Decentralized autonomous organization that was launched by DAOstack to support the development of the project. Genesis is an independent, global community of people working together to build and promote DAOs. It's the first of an increasing number of DAOs built on the DAOstack.^[7]

It’s the perfect place to get involved with DAOstack and get your feet wet in a real-life DAO.

Genesis is experimenting with a ground-breaking governance model. It aims for resilience and scalability. Currently, Genesis is using this protocol to make real budgeting decisions.

No matter how large Genesis gets, it will keep the ability to make fast decisions that accurately represent the community’s views.

Who should join Genesis?

1. Freelancers: Freelancers get paid for work on DAOstack projects they propose.
2. Researchers: Researchers can experiment with a new form of governance.
3. Community leaders: Community leaders get support starting their own DAO.

To join Genesis DAO, interested persons should make a proposal to the DAO introducing themselves and asking for some votes.

The Ecosystem of DAOstack

DAOstack is linked with top cryptocurrency projects, it has developed partnerships around the world. The list of DAO founders, partners, and stack integrations includes, Polkadot , portis , bitfwd , thegraph , dOrg , DutchX , CARIBBEAN , DISRUPT , CNCSIS , Kyber Network , BOX , PRAGUEDAO , never stop marketing , DAOIncubator , DeversiFi , #dHack , DAOfund , and THE GENERAL STORE DAO.