Coinbase.com reported that "There are already over 180 DAOs (tracked by deepdao.io) with $10B+ in assets under management and nearly 2 million members. These range from DAOs that help manage some of the largest protocols in crypto, to smaller DAOs organized around investment, social communities, media, and philanthropic pursuits." The December 2021 report entitled "DAOs: Social networks that can rewire the world" included these comments about Social DAOs:
Social DAOs intend to bring like minded people together in online communities, coordinated around a token. The leading example is Friends With Benefits and its $FWB token. To join, members must submit an application and acquire 75 FWB tokens. Entry comes with access to a community full of prominent crypto builders, artists, and creatives as well as exclusive events.
By organizing around a token, members have the incentive to create a valuable community — share insights, host meetups and throw great parties etc. For example, as more people understood the benefits of joining the FWB community, the token appreciated in lockstep, sending the $FWB price from $10 to $75 and therefore membership cost from around $750 to around $6,000.
Other social DAOs use NFTs as the mechanism for unlocking access to a broader community. Owning a Bored Ape NFT for example, unlocks access to the Bored Ape Yacht Club discord, events, NFT airdrops, and merchandise. In this case, the perceived value of the community drives value to the collection of NFTs.
This category of DAOs are all still in their infancy and it will take time to learn which models work and which don't, but the rapid rise of these communities suggest that they represent a powerful new powerful form of social organization.
Stay tuned for more as DAOs grow!
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