A Technical Perspective on Decentralization

This chapter presents a technical perspective on decentralized structures. The purpose of the chapter is to provide guideposts and an overview of the technical possibilities and limitations for the creation of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). A core precept for the creation of DAOs is the recognition that any set process or set of rules that can ever be designed will ultimately fail to secure a network for all time. This insight is particularly relevant for a decentralized net-work that should be open for anyone on the globe and provide anonymity. How can a DAO be governed with a set of rules that always need to be amended in the future as the environment changes, to keep the network running healthily? It is necessary to design the systems with an evolutionary mindset and a dynamic governance process. The chapter shows how a dynamic environment for the governance of DAOs can be created and how DAOs may thrive with such a design