Open Problems in DAOs
Joshua Tan, Tara Merk, Sarah Hubbard, Eliza R. Oak, Helena Rong, Joni Pirovich, Ellie Rennie, Rolf Hoefer, Michael Zargham, Jason Potts, Chris Berg, Reuben Youngblom, Primavera De Filippi, Seth Frey, Jeff Strnad, Morshed Mannan, Kelsie Nabben, Silke Noa Elrifai, Jake Hartnell, Benjamin Mako Hill, Tobin South, Ryan L. Thomas, Jonathan Dotan, Ariana Spring, Alexia Maddox, Woojin Lim, Kevin Owocki, Ari Juels, Dan Boneh
TL;DR
The paper surveys open problems across DAO-related disciplines, proposing a cross-disciplinary research program to advance the science and governance of digitally-constituted organizations. It outlines concrete questions and methodological directions in computer science, economics, ethics, law, organizational science, political science, and philosophy, emphasizing data-driven collaboration between researchers and DAO practitioners. Key contributions include proposals for granular privacy, private execution, multi-substrate computation, secure voting, formal governance verification, data standards, and automated experimentation, as well as economic theories, tokenomics, labor dynamics, and strategic governance challenges. The work highlights regenerative finance and AI governance as major coordination challenges, and argues that practical impact will come from live data, standardized datasets, and interoperable governance infrastructures that enable robust experimentation and policy development. Overall, the paper provides a structured, multi-field roadmap for research and tooling needed to unlock the potential of DAOs while addressing ethical, legal, and societal considerations with measurable success criteria.
Abstract
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a new, rapidly-growing class of organizations governed by smart contracts. Here we describe how researchers can contribute to the emerging science of DAOs and other digitally-constituted organizations. From granular privacy primitives to mechanism designs to model laws, we identify high-impact problems in the DAO ecosystem where existing gaps might be tackled through a new data set or by applying tools and ideas from existing research fields such as political science, computer science, economics, law, and organizational science. Our recommendations encompass exciting research questions as well as promising business opportunities. We call on the wider research community to join the global effort to invent the next generation of organizations.