Flamingo DAO is an NFT-focused DAO for investing in digital collectibles. Any purchased NFTs can be lent, held, displayed in a digital art gallery, or used as collateral in other DeFi platforms.^[1][2]

Overview

Flamingo launched publicly on October 8, 2020, and stayed open until all units in the DAO were sold. Flamingo was formulated and refined with input from The LAO, a global group of Ethereum enthusiasts and experts supporting the work of Ethereum builders. Because of this, members of The LAO and The LAO itself had the opportunity to make contributions before the public launch.^[3]

The total number of members is capped at a maximum of 100 members. Flamingo members have the opportunity to contribute Ether to Flamingo by purchasing between 100,000 and 900,000 units representing ownership in Flamingo ("Flamingo Units"). The members reserve the right to create a Flamingo Token to represent Flamingo Units via a Member vote.^[4]

As of January 2020, Flamingo DAO is a fund with roughly 40 members and 4,800 ETH in pooled capital.^[5]

Flamingo Membership

Flamingo membership was launched on a first-come-first-serve basis. Each member had an opportunity to contribute 60 Ether to receive a 1% interest in Flamingo, which entitled a holder to 1% of Flamingo’s voting rights and profits. Membership was limited to a maximum of 9% or 540 Ether per member. After contributing Ether there was a 7 day processing period to finish the approval of the application and fully execute the transaction. This is due to the nature of the Moloch v2 smart contracts, which have a default seven day voting period.^[6]

To become a community member, a person needs to fill in the form, pass Know Your Customer, AML identity verification, and get permission to join.^[7]

Governance

Each voting right is 100,000 Flamingo tokens, and the voting right is determined by the amount of currency held in the member address. Tokens are non-transferable, and a majority of members’ votes are required for transfer. The LAO, as an initiation and service organization, received 200,000 tokens.^[8]

Flamingo community governance uses the Moloch DAO governance contract. The contract was audited by ConsenSys Diligence, Moloch DAO, and MetaCartel.^[9]

Alien CryptoPunk Purchase

On January 23, 2021, Flamingo DAO bought Alien CryptoPunk digital collectible for 605 ETH or $761,889 at purchase. Only nine such "Alien" punks exist in the CryptoPunks universe, which pioneered non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2017. FlamingoDAO community representative Priyanka Desai told in an interview with CoinDesk that it was by far the collective’s most expensive piece.^[10]

The CryptoPunk in question last sold in July 2017 for 8 ETH or $2,127 at the time. That represents a 75x кeturn on investment in ETH terms.^[11]