Over the past few weeks a virtual flash mob called the ConstitutionDAO, with thousands of cryptocurrency fans, crowdfunded almost $45 million to buy a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Although they lost the auction, they had already spun up a line of sweatshirts, emblazoned with emojis, distributed by the newsletter company MorningBrew.
This experiment, which flooded social media with countless memes and calls to join the crowdfund, is just one example of the type of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that are now all the rage in venture capital circles. Much like open source projects like Bitcoin Core, DAO projects involve both volunteer participants and passive followers, often shepherded by paid core contributors. How the project collects money to pay those contributors varies drastically, depending on the project.
Several other DAO projects, including the Andreessen Horowitz-backed Friends with Benefits (FWB) DAO, manage more than $600 million in assets. FWB lead organi …