Challenges in the Legal Qualification of Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs): The Rise of the Crypto-Partnership?

Revista de Direito e Tecnologia, Vol 1 (2019), no. 1, 33-87

Centro de Investigação de Direito Privado (CIDP) Research Paper No. 11

57 Pages Posted: 9 Aug 2019 Last revised: 4 Aug 2022

See all articles by António Garcia Rolo

António Garcia Rolo

CIDP - Lisbon Centre for Research in Private Law; Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon

Date Written: December 19, 2018

Abstract

This paper attempts to provide a cross-jurisdictional analysis of the legal qualification of decentralised autonomous organisations (or DAOs). Having been described as 'crypto-companies', they are entities existing solely on computer code and within a given blockchain, having relatively autonomous and self-sufficient corporate governance mechanisms, and whose core members - the tokenholders - exercise a great degree of control thereover, providing the DAO with funding in cryptocurrency, with the combined assets used to fund projects and distributing earnings among the tokenholders. Made well-known through an ill-fated experience in 2016 which involved the hacking of USD 50 million, DAOs present enormous challenges to lawyers, scholars and regulators - what to make of this eerily-abstract entity? It exists in no physical location, it produces nothing and is essentially a nexus of pieces of code (called smart contracts) banded together but conceived as an organisation.

Keywords: decentralised autonomous organisations, decentralized autonomous organizations, DAOs, blockchain, companies, partnerships, smart contracts

JEL Classification: K20, K22

Suggested Citation

Garcia Rolo, António, Challenges in the Legal Qualification of Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs): The Rise of the Crypto-Partnership? (December 19, 2018). Revista de Direito e Tecnologia, Vol 1 (2019), no. 1, 33-87, Centro de Investigação de Direito Privado (CIDP) Research Paper No. 11, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3417900

António Garcia Rolo (Contact Author)

CIDP - Lisbon Centre for Research in Private Law

Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Lisboa
Alameda da Universidade
Lisbon, 1649 014
Portugal

Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon ( email )

Alameda da Universidade, Cidade Universitária
Lisboa, 1649-014
Portugal

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