What it means
Decentralised autonomous organisation: a group that runs a protocol by token holders' votes rather than a company's management.
Proposals to change fees, add markets or spend the treasury are put to a vote and carried out onchain.
How it works
How decentralised a DAO really is depends on who holds the votes.
Related terms
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Governance token | A token that gives its holders a vote on how a protocol is run. |
| Protocol | A set of smart contracts with its own rules that provides a service onchain, such as lending or trading. |
| DeFi | Decentralised finance: lending, borrowing and exchanging that runs on public smart contracts instead of through a bank. |
This glossary explains terms in general. It isn't investment, tax or legal advice.