TY - GEN
T1 - Decentralization of DAOs
T2 - 20th European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern Conference, EMCIS 2023
AU - Papangelou, Stamatis
AU - Christodoulou, Klitos
AU - Themistocleous, Marinos
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - This paper addresses a significant gap in the current understanding of decentralization within Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). While many theoretical discussions generalize governance models, there is a lack of in-depth analysis of the unique governance structures and their inherent decentralization mechanisms in individual DAOs. To bridge this gap, the paper presents two primary contributions. First, it offers a foundational analysis of potential points of failure in decentralization within DAOs. Second, the study introduces a “decentralization layer system”, a new framework aimed at guiding future quantitative analyses of decentralization. This system is based on two pillars: a critical evaluation of governance structures and a stratification approach to identify distinct layers within these structures. The paper further demonstrates the application of this framework by analyzing the governance models of several DAOs, including Uniswap, Compound, and ApeCoin. Through these analyses, the paper provides insights into the strengths and vulnerabilities of each DAO’s decentralization mechanisms, offering a comprehensive perspective on DAO governance.
AB - This paper addresses a significant gap in the current understanding of decentralization within Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). While many theoretical discussions generalize governance models, there is a lack of in-depth analysis of the unique governance structures and their inherent decentralization mechanisms in individual DAOs. To bridge this gap, the paper presents two primary contributions. First, it offers a foundational analysis of potential points of failure in decentralization within DAOs. Second, the study introduces a “decentralization layer system”, a new framework aimed at guiding future quantitative analyses of decentralization. This system is based on two pillars: a critical evaluation of governance structures and a stratification approach to identify distinct layers within these structures. The paper further demonstrates the application of this framework by analyzing the governance models of several DAOs, including Uniswap, Compound, and ApeCoin. Through these analyses, the paper provides insights into the strengths and vulnerabilities of each DAO’s decentralization mechanisms, offering a comprehensive perspective on DAO governance.
KW - DAOs
KW - Decentralization
KW - DeFi
KW - Governance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85190374878&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-56478-9_5
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-56478-9_5
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85190374878
SN - 9783031564772
T3 - Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing
SP - 61
EP - 74
BT - Information Systems - 20th European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern Conference, EMCIS 2023, Proceedings
A2 - Papadaki, Maria
A2 - Al Marri, Khalid
A2 - Themistocleous, Marinos
A2 - Al Zarouni, Marwan
PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Y2 - 11 December 2023 through 12 December 2023
ER -