Can you replace human managers in limited liability companies (LLC) with a set of self-executing “smart contracts” on a blockchain? Well, Wyoming’s governor Mark Gordon just said you can. More precisely, he is permitting his state’s legislators to grant LLC status to decentralised autonomous organisations (“DAO”) of the blockchain world.
The news has been picked up by writers at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
“Generally, a DAO is an organization controlled by its members with no central authority. Instead, the organization is governed by a set of smart contracts built on distributed ledger technology – or blockchain. The smart contracts automate many of the decision-making processes typically reserved for upper-tier management in a traditional company,” they explain.
By the new state law, the DAO can be a “member managed” or “algorithmically managed” one. The fact that it is a DAO must be stated in the limited liability company’s articles of organisation, and its name must include a “DAO” or “LAO” designation.