Decentralised autonomous organisations or DAOs are one of the faster-growing segments of the blockchain space. Donald O’Brian Porter, the Founder of the recently launched Carib DAO explains, among other things, how DAOs work; the products or services CaribDAO will be bringing to market; the ways in which an individual can verify the authenticity of a DAO; and three (3) questions someone should ask before joining a DAO.

 

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Increasingly and among the masses generally, blockchain technology and financial technology (or fintech), are being used almost interchangeably. However, they are not the same. Blockchain technology may underpin a broad range of popular fintech services and applications, such as cryptocurrencies, crypto-based applications and non-fungible tokens (or NFTs), but not all fintech applications and services need to use blockchain.

In our continuing series on fintech in the Caribbean region, we are focusing on decentralised autonomous organisations or DAOs, which straddle both fintech and blockchain technology. DAOs are among the fastest-growing segments of the blockchain space, and in 2021, the top 20 DAOs were estimated to have a combined value of over USD 14 billion in digital assets (Source:  Walkers).

Generally, a DAO is a member-owned community with no centralised leadership, and so it is owned and managed by its members. As a decentralised construct, it uses distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), such as blockchain technology, to provide a transparent, secure and efficient platform.

Although there are many ways to participate in a DAO, usually, it is through ownership of a token, which would outline the voting rights among other benefits. Typically, decisions in a DAO are made from the bottom-up by the community, based on a specific set of rules that are enforced on a blockchain using smart contracts. Once the DAO is fully operationally, it operates autonomously based on the rules and smart contracts that have been established.

 

Donald O’Brian Porter

Introducing our guest

Donald O’Brian Porter is an award-winning Software Developer and Entrepreneur. He first came to prominence in the Caribbean region as the Founder of ClajaCOM, more commonly known as Claja, which was founded in 2010 and was one of Jamaica’s first social marketplace, featuring free online classifieds, shops, event listings, and a feature-rich user dashboard.

Donald is well known in the blockchain space and is the Founder of Carib DAO, a recently launched Caribbean-based DAO with a focus on Web 3.0 education, project incubation, and crowdfunding.

 

 

Insights into our conversation

Having witnessed the Caribbean region’s reticence about new technology, very early in our conversation with Donald, it becomes evident that he is concerned that once again, the region will be left behind with respect to technology adoption, such as web 3.0 and blockchain technology. He is also passionate about DAOs and their ability to help the region solve some of its problems, by leveraging the informal community and trust-based systems that have existed across the region and giving them more structure, purpose and scale for greater impact.

However, the region first needs to build its capacity: become more knowledgeable about these newer technologies and develop ventures that not only leverage those technologies but also provide practical experience and opportunities for innovation. Below are key questions posed to Donald during our conversation:

  1. So, to start us off, tell us a bit about your entrepreneurial journey, and how you got into blockchain
  2. What is a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation, and how does it work?
  3. There seem to be growing concerns that some DAOs might be fronts for fraud. How might someone be able to verify the authenticity of a DAO?
  4. When was Carib DAO established, and what is the problem it is trying to solve?
  5. What products or services will Carib DAO be bringing to market?
  6. What is the value of owning Carib tokens?
  7. What are some of the drawbacks of using a DAO?
  8. What are three (3) questions someone should ask before joining a DAO?

 

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Let’s make it happen!

 

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  D Porter;  Kendall Ruth (Unsplash); Jon Tyson (Unsplash); Gerd Altmann (Pixabay)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez