DAOs: Country Clubs for Millennials

Our grandparents joined country clubs to signal their social status. Now, thanks to the blockchain, a new type of social club is taking shape. The DAO or "decentralized autonomous organization." DAOs are quickly emerging as the next big thing to follow NFTs into public consciousness and vernacular.

First there was ConstitutionDAO which attempted to buy an original copy of the United States Constitution.

Next we had KrauseHouseDAO, whose goal is to crowdfund the purchase of an NBA franchise.

Then there was BlockbusterDAO, which aimed to literally buy Blockbuster Video and re-skin it into a lean, mean, web3 streaming service to rival Netflix.

Now we have LinksDAO, a DAO whose mission is to literally buy a golf course and open it up to members who hold their NFT. Finally, some utility that even grandpa will get excited about.

LinksDAO gained quick attention and successfully sold out all of their tokens on the drop, raising a cool 10 million dollars in the process and taking a confident step down the fairway to buying their very own golf course.

The founding group behind LinksDAO says they are aiming to create the ultimate "golf and leisure club" by exploring what that could look like in the web3 era. The crown jewel of the effort would be the purchase of a PGA ranked gold course. Beyond this, there may be connected restaurants and other tangible benefits they will attempt to line up for members.

As the ambition of this new field of DAOs continues to grow, there are financial and logistical questions that will need to be answered and maneuvered around. Currently, there aren't many rules and regulations around what a DAO is defined as legally, or what its limitations are as an entity. Right now, a DAO is not legally allowed to hold traditional securities like real estate. This would require LinksDAO to find a workaround, involving possibly setting up a trust or third party entity that could legal hold the golf course and additional assets. The legal connection between the third party and the members of the DAO would need to be established.

We are still in the infancy of DAOs, but the trend is all about making the splashy Twitter-friendly pitch. Which, as we have seen, can generate quick hype and a successful initial round of funding. We are still waiting to see which of these DAOs will first achieve their lofty goal. ConstitutionDAO set an iconic and simple goal of buying a single document. When it failed, the founders admitted that the project had run its course. With these emerging DAOS like LinksDAO, they are adding layers of complexity that would essentially turn them into companies, needing ongoing resources, management and consistent execution. Owning and running a golf course or establishing a leading Hollywood movie studio is much more ambitious than making a splashy, one-time purchase.

However, while the results remain to be seen, it's clear that there is ample demand for people to join a DAO with a driving sense of purpose. And this is when we see what the excitement for the potential of the blockchain is all about. People are driven to own things that matter to them. They want to have a stake in the game of what they are passionate about. They want to be members of exclusive clubs and directly contribute to the creation of new culture. This is the promise of DAOs.