Some challenges for the “New DAOism”: A comment on Klima DAO
Journal
Journal of Organization Design
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2024
Author(s)
Abstract
As observers of organizations, we have found the recent and dramatic rise in the numbers of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) fascinating. In its extreme form, which we will characterize (with apologies to Lao Tze) as the “new DAOism”, the belief appears to be that DAOs will take over the world (1 day). While admiring the ambition of the new DAOists, we cannot help but noticing the gap between the rhetoric and the reality.
In his informative account of Klima DAO (as well as the working of the carbon credit markets), Professor Jirasek makes the statement that such a DAO may be a “model for future organizations in search of greater transparency and flatter governance structures.” With the insertion of “some” before “future”, we would be in full agreement with his statement. However, this qualification is an extremely important one, as we do not expect DAO’s to be good models for every organization in search of these virtues.
It would be an interesting discussion topic by itself whether KlimaDAO needed to be a DAO to do what it wanted to do, or could it do much if not all of it within more traditional structures. However, to keep our commentary compact, we focus on its organization design, and not on the viability of its business model which is connected to carbon credits trading.
In his informative account of Klima DAO (as well as the working of the carbon credit markets), Professor Jirasek makes the statement that such a DAO may be a “model for future organizations in search of greater transparency and flatter governance structures.” With the insertion of “some” before “future”, we would be in full agreement with his statement. However, this qualification is an extremely important one, as we do not expect DAO’s to be good models for every organization in search of these virtues.
It would be an interesting discussion topic by itself whether KlimaDAO needed to be a DAO to do what it wanted to do, or could it do much if not all of it within more traditional structures. However, to keep our commentary compact, we focus on its organization design, and not on the viability of its business model which is connected to carbon credits trading.