Suing a DAO: Articulations of Legal Personhood and Service of Process in Recent Litigation

Abstract

This article analyzes emerging U.S. litigation that attempts to bring decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) into traditional court systems by grappling with questions of legal personhood and procedural norms. The author examines how courts and litigants have confronted the fundamental issue of whether a DAO can be recognized as a sui generis legal entity capable of being sued or must instead be treated as an unincorporated association or other traditional form. The piece highlights the procedural complexities of serving process on DAOs that lack centralized leadership, identifiable agents, and conventional corporate infrastructure. The author situates these procedural and doctrinal challenges within broader debates about how existing legal frameworks adapt (or fail to adapt) to decentralized digital organizations. Ultimately, the article assesses how recent cases reveal both the flexibility and limits of current law in accommodating novel organizational forms, with implications for future DAO litigation and governance.