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  "id": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations",
  "canonical": "https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/decentralized-autonomous-organizations/",
  "collection": "defi",
  "title": "DAOs: how a group makes and executes shared decisions",
  "description": "Follow a decentralized autonomous organization from membership to proposal and execution, and distinguish social decisions from contract-enforced powers.",
  "aliases": [
    "decentralised autonomous organisation"
  ],
  "dates": {
    "published": "2026-10-02",
    "modified": "2026-10-02",
    "verified": "2026-10-02T15:08:18.373Z",
    "dataAsOf": null
  },
  "authorship": {
    "publisher": "Degrees of Satoshi editorial project",
    "process": "AI-assisted research and drafting with a separate automated source-verification pass; no external expert or named human review is implied."
  },
  "quickAnswer": {
    "text": "A decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, coordinates a group using shared decision rules, often including blockchain voting and a treasury. Membership and execution vary: a vote can trigger contract actions directly or guide a separate signer group. The label alone does not establish who ultimately controls funds.",
    "claimId": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations-quick-answer",
    "sourceIds": [
      "dao",
      "governance"
    ]
  },
  "keyFacts": [
    {
      "label": "Membership",
      "value": "Organizations can use different membership and voting models.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "dao"
      ],
      "id": "membership",
      "claimId": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations-fact-membership"
    },
    {
      "label": "Execution",
      "value": "A Governor and timelock can execute approved contract calls.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "governance"
      ],
      "id": "execution",
      "claimId": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations-fact-execution"
    },
    {
      "label": "Control",
      "value": "Actual ownership and roles determine who can move funds.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "access"
      ],
      "id": "control",
      "claimId": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations-fact-control"
    }
  ],
  "prerequisites": [
    "governance-tokens"
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "organization",
      "heading": "The organization includes people and software",
      "paragraphs": [
        "A DAO can coordinate funding, protocol settings or a shared project. Discussion, proposal writing and delegation are human activities even when vote counting occurs on-chain. Some organizations use transferable tokens; others use different membership rules.",
        "Autonomous describes particular processes that execute under rules. It does not mean that all judgment, maintenance or legal obligations have been replaced by code."
      ],
      "sourceIds": [
        "dao"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "lifecycle",
      "heading": "Trace a decision all the way to its effect",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Imagine a proposal to pay a contributor from a treasury. The group discusses the proposal, a permitted account submits it, voters decide, and an authorized executor eventually performs the transfer. Different designs combine or separate these steps.",
        "An on-chain Governor can encode the target, value and call data for an action. A separate-signers model may instead require a signer group to follow the vote. Both can be described as DAO governance, but the enforcement and discretion differ."
      ],
      "sourceIds": [
        "governance",
        "access"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "evidence",
      "heading": "Inspect authority rather than participation slogans",
      "paragraphs": [
        "To identify control, inspect treasury ownership, signer thresholds, proposal rules, timelocks, emergency roles and upgrade paths. Voting participation is meaningful, but it cannot reveal a privileged bypass that exists in code.",
        "For a historical claim, preserve the proposal, voting snapshot and executed transaction as separate evidence. An announced decision, a passed vote and a completed transfer are not interchangeable milestones."
      ],
      "sourceIds": [
        "access",
        "governance"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "question": "Does a passed DAO vote automatically execute?",
      "answer": "Only if the organization’s execution mechanism makes it do so and all required conditions are met. A timelock may delay it, or a separate signer group may still need to act.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "governance",
        "access"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "articleSlug": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations",
      "statement": "A decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, coordinates a group using shared decision rules, often including blockchain voting and a treasury. Membership and execution vary: a vote can trigger contract actions directly or guide a separate signer group. The label alone does not establish who ultimately controls funds.",
      "sourceIds": [
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        "source-5ae9ea0050b20bf7"
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      "sourceLocators": [
        {
          "sourceId": "source-89c144007e4dcbca",
          "locator": "How do DAOs work?; DAO membership; How do DAOs govern?"
        },
        {
          "sourceId": "source-5ae9ea0050b20bf7",
          "locator": "Token; Governor; Timelock"
        }
      ],
      "scope": {
        "collection": "defi",
        "dataAsOf": null,
        "blockHeight": null
      },
      "qualification": "",
      "evidenceStatus": "documented",
      "verification": {
        "status": "verified",
        "method": "independent automated source review",
        "checkedAt": "2026-10-02T15:08:18.373Z",
        "reviewer": "automated independent verification",
        "notes": [
          "Read Ethereum DAO membership/governance and OpenZeppelin Governor, timelock and owner/role mechanics. Token voting, treasury control and actual execution are distinct.",
          "The article correctly allows separate signers and delays rather than treating a passed vote as automatic execution in every organization."
        ]
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      "articleSlug": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations",
      "statement": "Membership: Organizations can use different membership and voting models.",
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        "notes": [
          "Read Ethereum DAO membership/governance and OpenZeppelin Governor, timelock and owner/role mechanics. Token voting, treasury control and actual execution are distinct.",
          "The article correctly allows separate signers and delays rather than treating a passed vote as automatic execution in every organization."
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations-fact-execution",
      "articleSlug": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations",
      "statement": "Execution: A Governor and timelock can execute approved contract calls.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "source-5ae9ea0050b20bf7"
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      "sourceLocators": [
        {
          "sourceId": "source-5ae9ea0050b20bf7",
          "locator": "Token; Governor; Timelock"
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      "evidenceStatus": "documented",
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        "checkedAt": "2026-10-02T15:08:18.373Z",
        "reviewer": "automated independent verification",
        "notes": [
          "Read Ethereum DAO membership/governance and OpenZeppelin Governor, timelock and owner/role mechanics. Token voting, treasury control and actual execution are distinct.",
          "The article correctly allows separate signers and delays rather than treating a passed vote as automatic execution in every organization."
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations-fact-control",
      "articleSlug": "decentralized-autonomous-organizations",
      "statement": "Control: Actual ownership and roles determine who can move funds.",
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        "source-56dd3f4220f6fea2"
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      "sourceLocators": [
        {
          "sourceId": "source-56dd3f4220f6fea2",
          "locator": "Ownership and Ownable; Role-Based Access Control; Delayed operation"
        }
      ],
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        "notes": [
          "Read Ethereum DAO membership/governance and OpenZeppelin Governor, timelock and owner/role mechanics. Token voting, treasury control and actual execution are distinct.",
          "The article correctly allows separate signers and delays rather than treating a passed vote as automatic execution in every organization."
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "dao",
      "label": "Decentralized autonomous organizations",
      "publisher": "ethereum.org contributors",
      "url": "https://ethereum.org/dao/",
      "locator": "How do DAOs work?; DAO membership; How do DAOs govern?",
      "note": "Membership, proposal processes and treasury governance vary across organizations.",
      "version": null,
      "checkedAt": "2026-10-02",
      "recordId": "source-89c144007e4dcbca",
      "contentSha256": null
    },
    {
      "id": "governance",
      "label": "How to set up on-chain governance",
      "publisher": "OpenZeppelin",
      "url": "https://docs.openzeppelin.com/contracts/5.x/governance",
      "locator": "Token; Governor; Timelock",
      "note": "Delegation, historical voting power, quorum and delayed execution.",
      "version": "OpenZeppelin Contracts 5.x",
      "checkedAt": "2026-10-02",
      "recordId": "source-5ae9ea0050b20bf7",
      "contentSha256": null
    },
    {
      "id": "access",
      "label": "Access control",
      "publisher": "OpenZeppelin",
      "url": "https://docs.openzeppelin.com/contracts/5.x/access-control",
      "locator": "Ownership and Ownable; Role-Based Access Control; Delayed operation",
      "note": "Ownership, roles, administrator authority and timelock limitations.",
      "version": "OpenZeppelin Contracts 5.x",
      "checkedAt": "2026-10-02",
      "recordId": "source-56dd3f4220f6fea2",
      "contentSha256": null
    }
  ],
  "related": {
    "articles": [
      "governance-tokens",
      "protocol-upgrades-and-admin-powers",
      "smart-contract-audits"
    ],
    "dossiers": [],
    "wallets": []
  },
  "revisionHistory": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-02",
      "kind": "published",
      "summary": "First publication after primary-source research and independent automated verification."
    }
  ],
  "citation": "Degrees of Satoshi editorial project. “DAOs: how a group makes and executes shared decisions.” Published 2026-10-02; updated 2026-10-02. https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/decentralized-autonomous-organizations/"
}