--- title: "DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)" url: "https://www.unknowngravity.com/en/glosario/dao-organizacion-autonoma-descentralizada" site: Unknown Gravity published: "2025-06-07T15:08:50+00:00" modified: "2026-07-30T15:43:02+00:00" language: en-US description: "A DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is a digital and decentralized organizational structure, managed by smart contracts deployed on a blockchain, which allows participants make collective…" section: "Home > DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)" --- # DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) GLOSSARY · BLOCKCHAIN & WEB3 Digital entity governed by rules programmed in smart contracts where members collectively make decisions. WHAT IS IT? · FOR DUMMIES A **DAO** is like a **Digital club without bosses**, where all the rules are written in a program (smart contract) and **members vote to make important decisions**: how to spend money, what projects to support or how to change the rules. Everything is done transparently and automatically, and no one is in charge more than the others. WHAT IS IT? · PRO A **DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)** is a **digital and decentralized organizational structure**, managed by **smart contracts deployed on a blockchain**, which allows participants **make collective decisions without the need for a central authority**. Operating rules, governance processes and resource distribution are codified in smart contracts, ensuring that they are complied with in a **transparent, verifiable and immutable** manner. DAOs use governance tokens that grant their holders **proportional voting rights** to: - Propose and approve changes to the protocol or project. - Allocate treasury (treasury) budgets. - Incorporate members or partners. - Regulate interactions with third parties. These organizations can have different purposes: - **Protocol DAOs** (e.g. MakerDAO, Uniswap): they govern DeFi protocols. - **Investment DAOs** (e.g. The LAO): they manage collective capital. - **Impact or community DAOs** (e.g. GitCoinDAO): promote public initiatives. - **Shared Owned DAOs** (e.g. for art, real estate, NFT). - **Occupational data**: decentralized freelancing structures or on-chain operations. Its main features include: - **Programmable and automated management**. - **Collective and transparent decision-making**. - **Public record of votes, proposals and executions**. - **Organizational disintermediation**. - **Ability to interact with tokenized assets and external contracts**. The main challenge of DAOs is not technical, but organizational and legal. Although they are resistant to censorship and centralization, they require robust governance mechanisms, active participation and legal models compatible with the jurisdictions in which they operate, especially if they manage financial resources or collective property. ## 01 / Key points - Digital organization governed by code and tokenized participation - Decisions are made collectively through on-chain voting - Automates the execution of agreements and transactions - Operate without the need for bosses, middlemen or traditional structures - Applicable to communities, investments, protocols, NFTs or social projects ## 02 / Advantages - **Democratic and transparent governance**, based on codified rules - **Elimination of intermediaries** and traditional bureaucracy - **Automated fund and decision management**, executed without manual intervention - **Full traceability of the history of proposals, votes and results** - **Resistance to censorship and centralized control** ## 03 / Disadvantages - **Legal and Regulatory Challenges** in many jurisdictions - **Risk of low participation or manipulation by whales** - **Complexity for non-technical users** when interacting with Web3 tools - **Vulnerability to errors in the code or poor design of the governance contract** - **It is difficult to apply accountability if the DAO structure is not well designed** RELATED CONCEPTS [Smart contract](/en/glosario/smart-contract) [Smart Contract](/en/glosario/smart-contract-contrato-inteligente) [Token](/en/glosario/token) [Digital identity](/en/glosario/identidad-digital) [Decentralization](/en/glosario/descentralizacion) KEEP LEARNING [What is a DAO? Success stories](/en/articulos/que-es-una-dao-casos-de-exito) [Web3 Marketing Success Stories: Lessons from Big Brands](/en/articulos/casos-de-exito-en-marketing-web3-lecciones-de-las-grandes-marcas) [Web3 Viral Marketing Campaigns: Strategies That Work](/en/articulos/campanas-de-marketing-en-web3) [How to convert Web2 users to Web3 without them running](/en/articulos/como-convertir-usuarios-web2-en-web3-sin-que-salgan-corriendo) [How to raise investment for your blockchain project: Real and effective strategies](/en/articulos/como-levantar-inversion-para-tu-proyecto-blockchain-sin-vender-humo) RELATED SERVICES [Voting and Governance](/en/servicios/blockchain-para-votaciones-y-gobernanza) [Development of smart contracts](/en/servicios/company-development-smart-contracts) [Blockchain consulting for companies](/en/servicios/consultoria-blockchain) [Web3 Development](/en/servicios/desarrollo-web3) [Smart contract auditing](/en/servicios/blockchain-security-audits) [Full glossary](/en/glosario) This entry is informative. It is not legal, tax or investment advice. The rules cited change: check the current version on [BOE](https://www.boe.es) and [EUR-Lex](https://eur-lex.europa.eu).