Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are one of crypto's more novel and ambitious applications — one that Bitcoin, until recently, has had nothing to do with.
In practice, they're a bit younger than Bitcoin forks and older than smart contract-focused blockchains. The idea is that you can devise a decentralized governance system using the blockchain's cryptographic controls — rule of code, so to speak. Using tokenomics and technical schemes, the DAO affects certain laws over its participants, incentivizes them to play by the rules and encourages the community to hold itself accountable.
