Popular Crypto DAO Projects
Crypto DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) are blockchain-based entities governed by smart contracts, enabling decentralized decision-making and...
Crypto DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) are blockchain-based entities governed by smart contracts, enabling decentralized decision-making and...
In today’s time, most organizations – be they big, medium, or small – are run centrally. And challenges like corruption, high costs, and inefficiency have no lasting solution.
Fortunately, blockchain is a technology that stands for decentralization, and blockchain-based models have already seeped into many industries outside of finance to implement decentralized, distributed systems where all participants hold equal power.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are one of these blockchain-powered models that have become a hallmark for bringing revolutionary changes to centralized organizations. Which crypto DAO projects to watch out for in 2023? We tell you the answer in this post!
Imagine you’re part of a community that has a shared goal or mission. The community can come together as an organization and work towards that goal, but what about its governance? Traditionally such organizations are run by a management team who makes the top decisions regarding the functioning of the organizations.
However, such decisions are not really democratic, and many in the community may tend to disagree with the central leadership.
Crypto DAO projects can be an appropriate solution to this issue. Powered by blockchains, such DAO projects can work towards an objective with equal input from all members. All the operations of the organization are democratized, with members deciding through votes to implement major decisions. The blockchain on which the crypto DAO project is built makes it possible not to require an intermediary for its functions and a blockchain-based crypto token can be used to allow stakeholders to vote in proposals.
There are many crypto DAO projects today paving the way for up-and-coming organizations to implement decentralized decision-making. Read on to find out about the top DAO projects today!
Crypto DAO projects have blockchain-based smart contracts as their backbone. A DAO’s rules and governance are encoded in these smart contracts, and anyone who wants to participate in the DAO can do so by interacting with these smart contracts. DAOs are often created to pursue a specific purpose or goal, and they are run by a community of users who have invested in the DAO.
The stakeholders in a DAO are usually issued governance tokens, through which they can participate in voting for key decision-making. Many of the best DAO projects are often created to pursue a specific purpose or goal, and they are run by a community of users who are invested in the DAO.
Some key decisions for which the stakeholders might vote are how to spend the reserves of the DAO or which assets to acquire. The entire operational process of a DAO is autonomous and is run by immutable smart contracts.
Now onto the good part: some of the top DAO projects to keep your eyes peeled for!
RobotEra is one of the upcoming crypto DAO projects which will specialize in building a metaverse comprising robot NFTs. Users of this metaverse are assigned robot avatars through which they are able to perform various activities, such as accumulating resources from the planets in the metaverse and managing lands while building a world of robots.
TARO is the native crypto of RobotEra, built using the ERC-20 token standard on Ethereum.
RobotEra has also opened a portal on its website for its tokens’ presale, enabling holders to access the wide array of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other related activities in the decentralized autonomous organization. Several opportunities for winning rewards would be available for its users through challenges and exploration quests. RobotEra also presents the option of a shared metaverse to visit other metaverses and their museums, concerts, theme parks, and other events.
The in-built Robot NFTs would act as the identities of the stakeholders in the metaverse known as Taro Planet, which will have seven continents. TARO token holders would also be able to participate in decision-making and voting to control various aspects of the project.
According to its expansive roadmap, RobotEra has completed its first NFT collection while forging partnerships with external agencies. It has also released a whitepaper and plans to start an influencer and social media campaign within the few months of 2023.
In the subsequent quarters, it plans to complete the sale of the TARO token and list it on exchanges. RobotEra also plans to build an alpha metaverse galaxy and bring in VR/AR to release a new experience mode.
Calvaria is a card game also developed as a crypto DAO project; it brings forth play-to-earn (P2E) and free-to-play (F2P) versions of the game. The game would issue cards to all players, which would represent different characters in the game. Each character is slated to have different abilities in the game.
Like many top DAO projects, Calvaria would enable their players to own the game’s resources, which has been made possible through blockchain technology. By navigating through different complex situations, the players are expected to beat their opponents to earn resources and receive upgrades or other rewards.
While the native token of the game is $RIA, Calvaria will also have NFT collections. Such NFTs will enable their holders to have strategic benefits while playing the game, while they will also be able to trade the assets in NFT marketplaces.
Calvaria claims to be in the league of the top crypto DAO projects through several initiatives, which include making the best use of the potential of blockchain technology in issuing real ownership of the game’s resources to their players.
Calvaria also states that their gaming community will eventually become a very strong one in the future due to their staking platform, use of NFTs, and of course, a decentralized autonomous organization. Calvaria has been built on Polygon but will also use the Ethereum network to issue $RIA tokens so that their NFT collections can be traded on popular marketplaces. This is specific for out-of-game collections, while in-game NFTs will be launched on Polygon.
Tamadoge is one of the crypto DAO projects launched recently, growing explosively in popularity in a very short time. Tamadoge includes a multi-utility token and a mechanism for players to earn rewards through its play-to-earn (P2E) platform.
Its native crypto is called TAMA, and the game of Tamadoge is all about creating, breeding, and trading creatures called the Tamadoge pets.
Each pet is unique since each one has different characteristics and is minted as a non-fungible token (NFT). Every user has a task cut out for them to collect Tamadoge pets in such a way that they can earn the maximum rewards. The Tama store acts as a one-stop place to buy Tama pets and other accessories.
The TAMA tokens will be limited in supply- 2 billion to be specific. While 1 billion tokens will be in circulation, 400 million will be set aside only for exchange listings and will remain unminted. The final 600 million will be gradually minted over the next decade to fund the Tamadoge platform.
The supply of tokens will also be constantly reduced as once every user uses the TAMA token to buy any accessory from the Tama store, 5% of the spent tokens will be completely burnt. So let’s say you spend 100 tokens in the Tama store,
Released in 2022, Battle Infinity has grown fast to become one of the top crypto DAO projects. Using blockchain technology, Battle Infinity has created a metaverse game called Battle Arena, again with a play-to-earn (P2E) feature. Users in Battle Infinity can earn rewards through their progress.
The Battle Infinity project has six different products for its users:
IBAT Premier League is the main game of the project in this metaverse, while IBAT Battle Swap is a decentralized exchange. IBAT Battle Market consists of the area where users can create and trade their digital assets. Meanwhile, IBAT Battle Games is a game store that would enable users to access different NFT games.
In the IBAT Battle Arena, each user would be able to modify their unique avatars according to their choice. Lastly, IBAT Battle Stake would function as the staking platform for the users.
Battle Infinity is all set to become one of the top DAO projects of 2023. The native token of Battle Infinity, $IBAT, would have a total supply of 10 billion. A majority- or 28% of the supply to be exact, is kept aside for the presale, while 20% is for the founders and partners. 18% is reserved for marketing and listing of the token.
The rest of the tokens would be used for foundation and development, liquidity, team allocation, private sale, and other purposes. Notably, the IBAT tokens are built on the BEP20 smart contract standard.
Currently, Battle Infinity is testing the Battle Stake launch, influencer marketing, a launch of a DApp, and other tasks. It will have three subsequent phases where NFT land sales, avatar launches, and other product releases are being considered.
One of the many crypto DAO projects to be built on the BNB blockchain network, Lucky Block has used blockchain technology to build a transparent and decentralized platform for its users. Rewards given out by Lucky Block are famously lucrative, including watches, vacations, Lamborghini cars, a fortune in BTC, or even real estate!
Having the token LBLOCK as its native currency, Lucky Block lets users earn staking rewards as long as they hold on to these tokens in their wallets. LBLOCK is currently run on the Ethereum blockchain and is listed on several crypto exchanges.
Lucky Block had Platinum Rollers Club as its first NFT collection, which allowed buyers a lifetime of entry to any future prize draws the platform holds. Once an NFT collection is completely sold out, prizes tied to that collection are given out.
Winners of the LBLOCK tokens through competitions get to avail the benefit of zero transaction fees. Adding to their list of famous, highly-valued prizes, currently Lucky Block also offers a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT to the winners of their competitions. With such creative initiatives, Lucky Block has made a place for itself among the best DAO projects of all time.
Lucky Block has also commenced a 1% monthly token burn since September 2022 to ensure its tokens remain in limited supply, leading to increased demand.
Uniswap is well regarded as one of the top crypto DAO projects today, not to mention one of the oldest. It has a dedicated following in web communities due to its several key features. The platform makes it possible for developers to build decentralized apps using the tools, guides, and protocol documentation provided by Uniswap.
Being a very prominent DeFi protocol to be used worldwide, Uniswap has seen investors and web3 enthusiasts flock to buy its native token, UNI. These UNI token holders are responsible for governing the Uniswap protocol.
There is a very interesting method that Uniswap undertakes to approve governance proposals:
Over time, the Uniswap protocol has grown to have a burgeoning community of developers, traders, and liquidity providers, and most decentralized autonomous organizations today take a cue from Uniswap for a successful run.
Source | Compound, one of the best crypto DAO projects
Compound is one of the crypto DAO projects mainly involved in crypto lending, where the holders of its token COMP are allowed to keep their tokens in the Compound protocol to generate interest. But you can also borrow crypto from the protocol in a completely decentralized manner without any requirement of credit checks by third parties.
In simple words, Compound works as a secure crypto custody for various purposes like staking and trading. COMP is an ERC-20 token that transfers voting rights to its holders. As far as governance is concerned, anyone holding 1% COMP can propose any changes to the governance mechanism.
Such proposals have to be in the form of executable code. In a three-day voting period, if the proposal receives a majority with a minimum of 400,000 votes, it is implemented after two days.
Compound claims to have achieved over $800 million worth of borrowing, supported by $2 billions of collateral. Compound has kept in place several security procedures such as audits, economic security, and formal verification for the Compound protocol. It also has a bug bounty program in place for hackers who point out any drawbacks in its security.
Several key projects were built by the Compound community, including Fireblocks, a mechanism to move assets between Compound, exchanges, and wallets. Bitgo is another project which works as a full-service crypto custodian. Compound is thus considered one of the best DAO projects in 2023.
Aave is another of the top DAO projects in decentralized finance. It is a liquidity protocol that is completely open-source. Currently, over $7 billion of assets are stored in Aave across five networks and eleven markets. Aave has broadly four different aspects:
The Aave treasury consists of over $126 million in AAVE tokens and other treasury collectors. Fees are generally earned from borrowers paying protocol interest, liquidity fees, liquidation fees, and portal fees. The ecosystem reserve comprises over $94 billion, while the rest, approximately $32 billion, is the share of treasury collectors.
For requesting a new governance proposal, holders need to submit an Aave Request for Comment (ARC) to the community and first receive feedback from the discussion with the community members. Further, a ‘snapshot’ needs to be created for the proposal, which is to be submitted through a GitHub pull request for eventual voting. The final submission is known as Aave Request for Improvement (AIP).
A very special feature of the protocol, which is usually not found in other crypto DAO projects, is the Aave Grants DAO, which is a community-driven funding program for ideas submitted to the Aave community. It ensures a steady growth of the number of community developers.
DeFi Coin gained traction in 2022 as a top DAO project in decentralized finance after the launch of its decentralized exchange named DeFi Swap. DeFi Coin mainly consists of three main functions:
Its native token DEFC runs on the Binance Smart Chain and can be exchanged between holders through their wallets. DeFi Coin also supports other services, such as yield farming, quick conversions, and staking.
DeFi has claimed the holders of DEFC are able to get several benefits, such as earning a 75% annual yield on staking for a year. The distribution of transaction tax amongst the existing token holders also incentivizes them to hold DEFC for a long period.
Within only a year of its launch, DeFi Coin has become one of the most sought-after crypto DAO projects. Its prospects to become one of the best DAO projects in 2023 are bright since its decentralized exchange DeFi Swap has gained a lot of appreciation in the web3 space.
Like many other crypto DAO projects, Curve is built on the Ethereum blockchain and is a decentralized finance protocol. Focusing on stablecoins, Curve has a simple but straightforward website, which makes room for smooth token swapping.
Over 70 liquidity pools are available on Curve, where users generate a yield by depositing their holdings. The returns for the yield may vary according to demand, but certain pools with high demand generate APYs of over 30%.
The CurveDAO governs the protocol, with its token being CRV. CRV is distributed to users who contribute to the liquidity pools. These CRV holders are the final decision-making authority for governance issues in the project. Its total deposits, as stated on the website, are over $4.3 billion.
Curve may become one of the top DAO projects in 2023 due to its importance given to stability over volatility and speculation. Since it is an automated market maker platform with liquidity pools of stablecoins, it sets itself apart from other DeFi crypto DAO projects.
Curve provides benefits to both liquidity providers and traders in the form of low fees for traders while ensuring an efficient savings account for the liquidity providers. CRV tokens also act as a bonus for liquidity providers on top of interest and fees.
Source | ApeCoin, one of the top DAO projects
Supported by the Ape Foundation, ApeCoin DAO focuses on various aspects of decentralization to improve and grow the popular APE ecosystem. The Ape Foundation uses the Ecosystem Fund for various expenses such as administration and project management to ensure the decentralized autonomous organization’s various proposals have the required support.
The entire process for a governance proposal to get approved in the ApeCoin DAO is known as the APE Improvement Proposal Process. The proposals include decisions regarding several factors, such as projects, allocations, partnerships, etc. Its native token, APE, is an ERC-20 governance and utility token. It serves various purposes, such as:
The limited supply of APE is distributed in a fixed allocated share of 8% to the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) founders, 14% to launch contributors, 16% to Yuga Labs and charity, and 62% to the Ecosystem Fund.
Owners of the BAYC NFTs can also claim APE tokens, which is transferred to them through a smart contract in a multisig wallet. A board of the Ape Foundation has also been constituted to oversee the implementation of governance proposals from a project management viewpoint. ApeCoin DAO is expected to continue being one of the top DAO projects in 2023.
Aiming to build a completely decentralized game governed by a DAO, Illuvium is trying to act as a link between gaming and crypto. It has described its games to be highly immersive with special 3D effects, meant to serve crypto enthusiasts and dedicated tech-savvy gamers.
It also claims to have interesting and rare non-fungible token (NFT) collections, which would act as an added bonus for gamers.
Illuvium has stated it would be different from other crypto DAO projects and metaverse games where players simply acquire NFTs, expecting them to grow in value. Illuvium tries to build a deeper connection between the players and their NFTs by introducing a long-drawn experience to explore and discover the NFTs. The basic outline of the game to evoke the gamers’ interest is as follows:
The native token of the DAO is ILV. Illuvium Zero, Illuvium Arena, and Illuvium Overworld currently feature in the list of games to be developed by Illuviam.
Iluviam Beyond V1.1 was launched recently, which is expected to help Illuviam become one of the top DAO projects of 2023. Its governance would be decided by an Illuvinati Council composed of the ILV token holders and Council Vote elections to approve governance proposals.
One of the highly regarded crypto DAO projects in terms of privacy and security, Dash’s native token DASH has emerged as one of the most widely used cryptos. Initially beginning in 2014 as a fork from Litecoin, the crypto became very popular amongst those who valued their privacy in terms of transaction details and history.
The Dash platform acts as a stack for developers to build decentralized applications using the Dash network. It mainly consists of two components: Drive and DAPI. Through the DASH token, it provides robust payment infrastructure to developers, while they can also use the blockchain to store data.
In terms of usernames and identities, decentralized and flexible data structures are provided on Dash. Developers are also given helpful SDKs through the Dash platform.
With the exception of having an integrated “InstantSend” functionality that allows transactions to be completed in less than two seconds, Dash functions similarly to Bitcoin. The confirmation of a transaction with Bitcoin can take up to 10 minutes, which is the main difference.
Also, Dash uses a useful method that combines transactions with others, making it extremely hard to connect a given transaction to a specific wallet.
Dash also runs a bug bounty program to reward hackers who find any bugs in their products, such as Mainnet, Dash Core Desktop Wallet, Dash Wallet Android, and Dash Wallet iOS.
45% of Dash’s rewards are distributed to miners, 45% to masternodes (computers that provide additional network functions and have a sizable investment in Dash tokens), and 10% is set aside for the project’s decentralized governance budget.
Due to being a decentralized exchange on Ethereum, SushiSwap is considered similar to Uniswap and is known as one of the best crypto DAO projects in the DeFi space. Apart from the decentralized exchange, SushiSwap also offers its users the feature to move their assets across networks in seconds.
Like other top DAO projects, Sushi runs as an automated market maker to uses liquidity pools in a decentralized manner. Sushi, thus, does not have the requirement to order books or traditional market makers for liquidity purposes. On top of that, liquidity providers are given a share of the trade made using the pool and also receive liquidity provider (LP) tokens.
These LP tokens can be further deposited in a yield farm, leading to more rewards and incentives. Therefore, a double benefit exists for users on SushiSwap who act as liquidity providers and further deposit their tokens in yield farms. The Sushi Vault acts as the main reason why such users get yields automatically without them personally doing anything.
Sushi also has a DeFi payment solution known as Furo Streaming for automatic payments to contributors of the DAO or protocol. Therefore, it acts as an automatic ‘salary payment’ tool for the DAO.
The native token for the DAO project is SUSHI, which has garnered over $600 million in total liquidity over the years. Sushi also runs the Sushi Academy, which is a one-stop place to learn about DeFi and blockchain for all kinds of users.
Sushi also runs an auction platform known as Miso, an AMM framework called Trident, and a lending market called Kashi. Its yield instruments are Onsen.
Crypto DAO projects have shown how decision-making power can be decentralized within organizations, and how that ultimately helps organizations work towards a mission in the long run. Meanwhile, a central authority that can make decisions for the entire group can bring about a consolidation of power, which, if abused, can lead to the downfall of the entire organization.
If you are a developer or an investor, we hope this post has been helpful to you in learning about some of the best crypto DAO projects today!
In crypto, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) can be set up through blockchain technology. The rules of a DAO are written in its smart contract, and any changes to the rules require the approval of a super majority of DAO token holders.
DAO members are incentivized to act in the best interests of the DAO since they stand to benefit from its success.
Many top DAO projects usually have a specific purpose or goal, such as funding the development of new crypto, decentralized application, or other blockchain-related projects. They may also be created for more general purposes, such as managing a decentralized marketplace or providing loans to members.
There are several examples of the best DAO projects in crypto. Some of them include UniSwap, SushiSwap, Compound, and Aave in the DeFi space.
DAOs can also be used for a variety of other purposes, such as managing a treasury, running a foundation, or even developing a new crypto.
Some top DAO projects are often set up as investment funds for various sectors also. The members of the DAO can vote on which projects to invest in, and the DAO will automatically distribute the funds to those projects. This allows people to pool their money together and get exposure to a variety of different projects without having to go through a traditional investment firm.
While it is difficult to determine the most popular DAO, there are many crypto DAO projects which are very popular in the web3 community and in general. ApeCoin, Battle Infinity, Curve, Tamadoge, and Lucky Block are some very popular crypto DAO projects.
Disclaimers: Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s). They do not necessarily purport to reflect the opinions or views of Shardeum Foundation.
About the Author: Anuska is an independent freelance writer freshly exploring web3 and blockchain space. Her articles blend personal exploration with established editorial methods, and she’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
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