The Evolution of Web3 Communities: From Tokenization to Autonomous Organizations

The rise of Web3 not only marks a technological advancement but also represents a new imagination of human collaboration, innovation, and value creation. In the Web3 environment, communities have transcended mere gathering places of interest and evolved into platforms for value exchange and innovation-driven activity. Decentralization, as the technical foundation of Web3, is profoundly reshaping our understanding of organizations and collaboration.

In this context, the Web3 tokenization community is facing a critical choice: whether to transition to a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) in order to harness the community's strength and wisdom for transparent and effective decision-making and value creation. This is not just a technological innovation, but also represents a significant shift in culture and mindset, emphasizing collaboration, transparency, and co-creation of value.

The Diversity of Tokenization Communities

The tokenization community transforms members into active participants and stakeholders primarily through community tokens as a means to gain access, participate in activities, and coordinate. Community tokens integrate elements of belonging, membership, and investment. The value of these tokens is related both to the direct value of the community and to the long-term influence of the community.

This ownership economic model gives members the opportunity to experience the growth potential of the community and participate in shaping that potential. Through community tokens as equity, members can benefit directly from the community's development, thereby motivating them to contribute actively. These tokens may ultimately be used as governance tools for decision-making, becoming a means to control the direction, resources, and outcomes of the community.

The Difference Between Tokenization Community and DAO

It is worth noting that not every tokenized community is a fully decentralized autonomous organization. While there may be some degree of collective governance and decision-making, token holders are not required to vote on every decision within the community. The inherent value and specific status granted by community tokens distinguish them significantly from purely governance and ownership tokens.

The core of a DAO lies in utilizing blockchain, tokens, and smart contracts to achieve decentralized and automated community governance, decision-making, and value distribution. DAOs pursue innovation in autonomy, democracy, and collective decision-making, coordinated through shared rules executed on the blockchain, driven by code embedded in smart contracts, and where decision-making power and financial capital distribution are controlled by token ownership.

Compared to ordinary tokenization communities, DAOs are more decentralized, autonomous, and financialized. They have their own treasury, establishing rules to operate and allocate community resources.

Construction and Optimization of DAO

Basic Principles

The key to a DAO lies in whether it is truly owned and managed by its members. This ownership is achieved through tokenization, representing a cooperative member system. In this system, members actively participate in decision-making and profit sharing, supervising resource allocation through proposals, voting, and fund management, maximizing the long-term value of the collective.

construction process

Building a DAO requires a clear definition of the community's goals, personnel, principles, processes, platforms, and benefits. It is crucial to break down the DAO's objectives into a grand vision, community roles, and individual interests. Since the DAO is operated by its members, it is especially important to recruit members who identify with and are committed to its mission.

The operational structure of a DAO can be complex and may require multiple adjustments and iterations to achieve a state of self-regulation and collaboration. An evolving community canvas can be used to define and optimize all key processes of the DAO.

Optimization Strategy

Decentralization is a gradual process, with many Web3 projects following a progressive decentralization model, initially adopting centralized control and gradually transitioning to a DAO structure. During the transformation process, it is necessary to balance the returns for the core team with broader community participation and ownership incentives.

The success of a DAO depends on the recognition and utilization of collective power. The underlying value model needs to have community scalability rather than extractiveness. Optimizing member participation and voting mechanisms is a key challenge that requires continuous information dissemination and community engagement, as well as effective Token incentive mechanisms.

The voting mechanism can be optimized by adjusting multiple parameters, such as setting participation thresholds, majority vote thresholds, and different methods for calculating voting weights. Innovative methods such as reputation-based or role-based weighted voting, or allowing delegated voting, can be considered.

In summary, DAOs require significant adjustments and tools to achieve true decentralized ownership and autonomy. Not all tokenized communities need to fully transition to DAOs. Many communities may adopt a hybrid approach, incorporating decentralized elements in only some activities, thereby delegating some control and ownership to members while maintaining community building.