Australia’s digital finance industry is demanding legal recognition of DAOs

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) professionals and attorneys are launching an initiative to create a new type of legal person in Australia to represent Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).

The country’s Digital Law Association and the global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills are campaigning for an Australian Senate committee to officially recognize new decentralized models of corporate governance. These new DAO models will replace the board with an internet community, the Australian Financial Review reported Thursday.

In particular, the initiative intends to enable the project governors “DAO Limited” to use DeFi tools that implement blockchain technology to enter into contracts with other legal entities in order to eliminate traditional intermediaries such as banks. Limited liability status would also prevent members of the DAO in Australia from being liable for losses resulting from decisions made by a member of the public.

Legalizing the DAO in Australia could make the country more attractive to global digital asset companies as local groups of DeFi entrepreneurs reportedly move overseas, according to lawyers in jurisdictions like Singapore and Germany.

Connected: Wyoming legally recognizes the first DAO in the United States

A DAO is a decentralized organization with certain sets of rules coded as computer programs and is usually based on blockchain technology. The first major attempt to found a DAO was the “DAO” founded in 2016, a machine-operated joint venture.

The news comes as several crypto exchanges move to a decentralized structure. Yesterday, the ShapeShift cryptocurrency exchange announced that it would open its platform as open source and dissolve its entire corporate structure to underscore its commitment to DeFi. “Inspired by the wider DeFi community, we will now help develop a new model of economic coordination for the 21st century. There are no business units, no banks and no borders. Gender.” The tools are ready, ”said Erik Voorhees, Founder and CEO of ShapeShift.