Take Aicha, a single mother living in rural Morocco who faces difficult conditions to make a living and support her children. She’s an incredible weaver, but there’s no access to markets and middle men get 80% of her profits. Just picture Aicha flourishing in a DAO – a decentralized, non-hierarchical collective. She is able to sell her crafts directly to a global audience, avoiding the exploitative middlemen and making a decent wage. This isn’t a pipe dream; it’s Web3 and DAOs at work, fully realized potential. Here’s why we all need to be on alert.

Web3 Can Be A Great Equalizer?

For too long, the global economy has been rigged to benefit the privileged elite. Traditional corporations, with their hierarchical structures and inscrutable decision-making, have a long history of choosing profit over people. Alessio Vinassa is right: we need to rethink business structures. In this context, powered by the promise of technology, Web3—with its focus on transparency and community-building—offers a powerful counter-narrative. Is it truly different?

Think of the internet itself. It was meant to democratize knowledge, but now it’s mostly under the control of a few Big Tech companies. Web3 doesn’t have to repeat these mistakes, but only if we’re intentional about building it that way. DAOs are the missing piece of the puzzle. They provide a powerful tool to design organizations that are owned and governed by their stakeholders rather than hierarchical centralized entities.

Traditional businesses operate like monarchies, with decisions flowing from the top down. DAOs, by contrast, claim to be digital democracies, in which each voice counts. This change is transformative. It has the power to advance economic opportunity for millions of Americans who have been historically left behind.

DAOs' Role For Economic Empowerment

Web3 encompasses much more than the cryptocurrency and NFT buzzwords we hear about. It’s a great start for laying the foundation for an inclusive economy. Inclusive by design DAOs are uniquely impactful in that they can offer access to financial services and economic opportunities to underrepresented communities. Imagine a DAO that provides microloans to small business owners in developing countries. Now, consider a different DAO that funds education and job training initiatives for marginalized young people. This is DeFi’s power in practice.

Let's be real. Web3 isn't a magic bullet. It’s early days for this approach, and as with any new field there are clearly challenges to address. One of the biggest is accessibility. Not everyone has access to nor the digital literacy skills required to even engage in Web3. We can’t leave anyone behind in this digital divide – we have to give all Americans a fair shot.

DAOs themselves are hardly free from the issues that afflict traditional organizations. They can be easily hijacked, co-opted, riven with infighting and even outright scams. Which is why it is so important to construct DAOs with good governance frameworks and protections that ensure the safety of members.

  • Transparent Governance
  • Community-Led Decision-Making
  • Global Participation
  • Programmatic Incentives

These should be the core principles that guide the development of DAOs. Principles alone are not enough. We need to understand how we can and should plug DAOs into existing legal and regulatory frameworks.

Building A Better Future Together

Forward-thinking jurisdictions of all kinds, from Wyoming to the Marshall Islands, are taking the lead in establishing the legal frameworks for DAOs. More needs to be done. To do that we have to partner with our state and federal policymakers to establish a balanced, flexible regulatory environment that fosters innovation and protects consumers. The aim is not to kill innovation, but to direct it to do the most good for the most people.

As Vinassa hints at, the change from employment to empowerment is deep. It’s a simple matter of equipping people with the incentive to invest in the future they’re creating. It’s about expanding the leadership narrative to focus on influence and contribution, not seniority or power. It’s about sharing that ownership with a wider ecosystem of stakeholders, from developers and other contributors to the end users.

Think of it this way: a traditional corporation is like a walled garden, where only a select few get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. A DAO is a bit more like an open field. We invite all of you to pitch in and partake of the fruitful bounty!

The transition won't be easy. DAOs have legal challenges, scalability issues, and the constant threat of bad actors. That’s why we should invest in the development of on-chain tools for arbitration, cross-chain voting, and decentralized identity. With it, we can make possible the DAOs to act more reliably and fairly across different countries.

Educate yourself about Web3 and DAOs. Engage with and support the DAOs that are leading the way in building a more inclusive and equitable economy. Get involved in community-driven governance. Working in partnership, we can help shape a Web3 that truly realizes its potential to put more power in the hands of the people. And don’t forget Aicha, the Moroccan weaver. Her story serves as an inspiration that Web3 can in fact change lives, one DAO at a time. This is more than a tech issue—it’s about shaping a future in which all of us have a fair shot at success. This is the just, inclusive and equitable revolution we should be fighting for.