Top 5 DAOs To Keep An Eye On In 2022

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, or DAOs, attract much mainstream attention these days. This is because the structure enables individuals to come together and influence the real world. Several projects embracing the decentralized structure are worth keeping tabs on, especially since the model can apply to many different initiatives. 

The DAO Appeal Intensifies

It is not hard to see why people pay close attention to the DAO model, as it introduces some crucial benefits. Unlike traditional structures, no one sits at the top of the proverbial pyramid making all the decisions. Instead, every participant is on a level playing field, and every vote or idea matters. It creates a different atmosphere participants enjoy as they engage in conversation and exchange ideas. 

Moreover, the goal is to bring like-minded individuals together, regardless of age, location, gender, religion, and everything else that can divide our society. Through this approach, DAOs can attract funding, support, and the brightest minds in the space. Moreover, participants can be rewarded in native DAO tokens, lowering the overall costs of day-to-day operations. The value of those tokens depends on the DAO’s overall success and will provide voting rights. 

One may wonder what a DAO can be used for in the real world, as the concept remains highly unusual. But, as it turns out, there are many opportunities and potential use cases for Decentralized Autonomous organizations. Below are some examples of how DAOs tackle real-world aspects and try to impact society for the better. 

Balthazar (Gaming Guild)

Play-to-earn blockchain gaming is a thriving force in the video game industry. Players can earn real money by playing games, collecting rewards, resources, and assets, and having a good time. However, most of these games require upfront investments, which may be a bit steep for some. Gaming guilds, such as Balthazar, ensure players can rent the NFTs required to access a growing variety of play-to-earn games, lowering the barriers to entry. 

Balthazar operates as a DAO to ensure it can attract the most scholars – players renting assets from the team or investors providing them – in the world. Ultimately, the team aims to create an ecosystem focused on education and empowerment with a self-sustaining wealth-building aspect. The multi-game portfolio approach spans several popular games – Axie Infinity, Splinterlands, Thetan Arena, etc. – to ensure people can play the games they are passionate about. 

With over 1,500 scholars live and over 50,000 waiting to join the ranks, it is a gaming-oriented DAO worth keeping tabs on. Moreover, nearly 1,000 investors want to lend their assets to make play-to-earn gaming more accessible. 

BitDAO (Open Finance)

The vision of BitDAO revolves around establishing the era of open finance and a decentralized token economy. The protocol is governed by the $BIT token and ensures everyone in the world can contribute with ideas, suggestions, or expertise. Moreover, BitDAO is well-known for being one of the largest decentralized autonomous organizations member-wise and treasury-wise. With roughly $2 billion in Treasury assets, the project continues to attract much attention. 

One intriguing aspect is how BitDAO has received a financial injection from cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. The exchange contributed $134 million to the BitDAO Treasury through Ether, USDT, and USDC deposits. It doesn’t often happen that a centralized exchange gets involved in DAOs or their Treasury, but this news paves the way for other companies to explore similar opportunities moving forward. 

One example of such a development was a recent agreement that was reached between BitDAO, and Alameda Research to swap 100 million $BIT for the corresponding value in FTT tokens. Each side traded roughly 1% of their respective total supply. 

Index Coop (Disrupting Finance)

In recent months, the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry has attracted tremendous attention. It is an alternative form of finance where users can put cryptocurrencies to work for earning yield. Index Coop is the Blackrock of cryptocurrency and has built multiple successful products to realize that vision. Their index fund and ETF tokens for Defi, Metaverse, Data Economy, and others receive much attention and praise, confirming overall demand for such vehicles. 

More importantly, Index Coop has strong backing from a growing community and various industry experts and thought leaders. Attracting people from traditional finance shows the vision of Index Coop is valid, and the in-house Web3-native team continues to expand the team’s footprint. In addition, the recent funding – and close to $500 million in managed assets – will attract more people to this DAO, as there are still numerous options to explore to disrupt traditional finance. 

Krause House DAO (Decentralized NBA Team Management)

Many people had doubts when Krause House announced its plan to build a community and acquire an NBA team. Until now, NBA teams are primarily managed by one person or a family, with decision-making limited to a handful of people. Nevertheless, thousands of enthusiasts want to own a share of an NBA team, pooling together over 1,000 ETH during the initial NFT sale. Initial results seem promising, and ties have been forged in New Orleans.

Rumor has it the New Orleans Pelicans will be up for sale soon, although that has not been officially confirmed, the Krause House team has begun laying groundwork to find a soft spot in Gayle Benson’s heart. Moreover, Krause House has helped establish subDAOs looking to own and operate franchises and languages in several sports. Decentralized ownership of a sports team or entire league has never been done before, yet it is an exciting prospect. 

What if there was a Krause House for every sport?

Done.

We’re thrilled to announce the KH Accelerator!

We’re working w/ incredible projects in ALL sports to share knowledge & resources to accomplished our mutual lofty goals. pic.twitter.com/dV8iajo0ZB

— The Krause House (🏀,🏀) (@KrauseHouseDAO) February 21, 2022

Drops DAO (Loans For NFT and DeFi Assets)

Lending and borrowing are an integral part of financial services and products. Rather than relying on traditional assets or specific cryptocurrencies, the Drops DAO incorporates non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and DeFi assets. Both NFTs and DeFi tokens will gain much more utility and liquidity through lending pools, which anyone can create. It is an intelligent approach for long-tail assets and makes obtaining loans and earning extra yield easier.

The ability to borrow against NFTs and DeFi tokens makes these assets more usable and unlocks active yield opportunities for idle assets. The DAO is responsible for delegating liquidity incentives among lending pools and voting on proposals and ideas. The team will introduce the option to wage in on boosting liquidity rewards for lending pools at a later stage. 

Conclusion

There is much reason to be excited about what DAOs can bring to the table. The decentralized approach to voting, governance, and sharing ideas introduces many opportunities and applies to virtually any idea one can think of today. Ranging from finance to owning sports franchises and anything in between, decentralized autonomous organizations are a force to reckon with.