Aspects for Implementations of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) in Switzerland

The so-called decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is a new concept that has emerged in recent years through the development of blockchain technology. The DAO represents a new form of organization in which the rules and regulations are embedded on the blockchain in the form of smart contracts and can operate without central control or third-party intervention. However, DAOs face many challenges such as security and legal issues due to their novelty. This paper describes the DAO concept and analyzes various aspects from business, social, technical, security and legal perspectives. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of the concept have been elaborated. A qualitative approach was adopted by conducting literature research and three semi-structured expert interviews. From the results, aspects and guiding questions were developed to help initiators with the implementation of DAOs. It can be concluded that the concept DAO is a means to an end. With the blockchain technology, the DAO has advantages such as transparency and traceability. The ideal that a use case can be controlled in a completely decentralized manner is unrealistic. Therefore, a combination of centralized and decentralized components should be used in the setup.