Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)—collectively owned human-machine systems deployed on a blockchain that self-govern through smart contracts and the voluntary contributions of autonomous community members—exhibit the potential to facilitate collective action in managing digital commons. Yet the promise of decentralization and collective action is difficult to sustain. To this end, this paper critically examines the transformational potential of DAOs in the case of decentralized finance. Using a polycentric governance lens, we contribute to the literature on technology-enabled forms of organizing with a model explaining the transformational potential of DAOs to facilitate collective action in digital commons. Our study highlights that (1) DAOs are a new form of organizing enabled by blockchain technology in which individuals are free to pursue their objectives within a general system of rules enforced by smart contracts, (2) collective action for managing digital commons can be sustained through a set of three mechanisms—sustained participation, collective direction, and scaled organizing, and (3) DAOs tend to strike a balance between centralized and fully decentralized or community-based governance by implementing a polycentric governance system involving a combination of human and machine agency that creates skin in the game.

中文翻译：

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共担风险：去中心化自治组织的变革潜力

去中心化自治组织（DAO）——部署在区块链上的集体人机系统，通过智能合约和自治社区成员的自愿贡献进行自治——展现出促进管理数字共享的集体行动的潜力。然而，权力下放和集体行动的承诺很难维持。为此，本文批判性地研究了 DAO 在去中心化金融情况下的变革潜力。使用多中心治理视角，我们为有关技术支持的组织形式的文献做出了贡献，并通过一个模型解释了 DAO 促进数字公共领域集体行动的变革潜力。我们的研究强调，(1) DAO 是一种由区块链技术实现的新型组织形式，个人可以在智能合约执行的通用规则系统内自由地追求自己的目标，(2) 管理数字公共资源的集体行动可以持续下去通过持续参与、集体指导和规模化组织这三种机制，(3) DAO 倾向于通过实施涉及人与机器结合的多中心治理体系，在中心化和完全去中心化或基于社区的治理之间取得平衡在游戏中创造皮肤的机构。