what is a dao

DAO stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. It is an emerging form of legal structure that has no central governing body and whose members share a common goal. DAOs are internet-native organizations collectively owned and managed by their members, and they operate using smart contracts that are deployed on numerous blockchains. The DAO was a digital decentralized autonomous organization that existed as a set of contracts on the Ethereum blockchain and acted as a form of venture capital fund. It had no conventional management structure or board of directors, and its code was open-source. DAOs can be used for various purposes, such as charity, collective ownership, and ventures and grants. Although the precise legal status of DAOs is unclear, they may functionally be a corporation without legal status as a corporation.