TRUE Autonomous Organizations and Operations for Web3

Abstract

As the key component of the emerging Web3, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations and Operations (DAOs) enables decentralized decision-making and governance mainly driven by blockchain and smart contracts. This paper first provides a comprehensive examination of DAOs’ evolution, tracing their historical development and the progression of their definitions and underlying concepts. Then, it presents their classical governance models founded on token economics and analyzes typical practical cases, subsequently identifying the current dilemmas faced by DAO governance. To address these dilemmas, TRUE Autonomous Organizations and Operations (TAOs) are proposed, which underscores the trustable, reliable, usable, efficient and effective essence of decentralization. Besides, the distinctions between TAOs and DAOs are discussed from perspective of the value systems, governance structures, incentive allocation, decision-making model. Furthermore, it highlights the research issues that need to be addressed to realize the full potential of TAOs.