A new legal initiative in Australia wants to allow DAO project governors to contract with other legal entities through DeFi tools.
Australian digital finance industry wants to legally recognize DAOsNEWS
Specialists and lawyers focused on decentralized finance (DeFi) are launching an initiative to create a new type of legal entity in Australia representing decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
The country’s Digital Law Association and global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills are lobbying an Australian Senate committee to formally recognize new decentralized models for corporate governance. These new DAO models would replace the board of directors with an internet community, the Australian Financial Review reported Thursday.
The initiative specifically intends to allow “DAO Limited” project governors to contract with other legal entities through DeFi tools, implementing blockchain technology to remove traditional intermediaries like banks and exchanges. Limited liability status will also prevent Australian members of a DAO from being liable for losses incurred by decisions made by a member of the community.
According to the lawyers, legalizing DAOs in Australia could make the country more attractive for global digital asset businesses, as groups of local DeFi entrepreneurs reportedly shift offshore to jurisdictions like Singapore and Germany.
Related: Wyoming legally recognizes first DAO in the United States
A DAO is a decentralized organization with certain sets of rules that are encoded as a computer program and are usually based on blockchain technology. The first most important attempt to create a DAO was “The DAO,” a machine-operating venture organization launched in 2016.
The news comes as some cryptocurrency exchanges are shifting to a decentralized structure. Yesterday, ShapeShift crypto exchange announced plans to open-source its platform and dissolve its entire corporate structure in a move to underscore its commitment to DeFi. “Inspired by the broader DeFi community,
we’ll now help pioneer a new model of economic coordination for the 21st century. No corporate entity, no banks and no borders. The tools are ready,” ShapeShift founder and CEO Erik Voorhees said.
The Chinese government’s ongoing crusade against cryptocurrencies might have dramatic consequences for both domestic and global crypto traders.
China’s crypto industry is gone? Beijing’s crackdown keeps sending shockwavesFOLLOW UP
Since the start of the summer, a series of measures from Chinese authorities to curb cryptocurrency trading and mining have dominated the crypto news cycle.
From urging financial service providers to throttle cryptocurrency-related transactions to ordering a crypto trading software provider shut down, the initiatives coming out of Beijing and their repercussions are widely believed to have contributed considerably to the recent market downturn.
What motivates this new round of hostile actions, and how will they affect the cryptocurrency space of the nation that had once accounted for some two-thirds of the global digital asset supply? Furthermore, it seems that whatever happens in China is having a great effect on other parts of the world, which doesn’t seem to be negative.
It is not hard to notice how the intensifying clampdown on trading and mining of decentralized cryptocurrencies comes hand-in-hand with the ramping up of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project. As part of the Digital Currency Electronic Payment system testing, stacks of the government-issued electronic money have already landed in the wallet apps of some 200,000 Chinese citizens selected via a lottery. It looks as if larger-scale trials and wide implementation can be expected within months.
When it comes to the distribution of political or economic power, Chinese leadership is not in the habit of promoting pluralism and competition. Up to a certain point, the nation’s sprawling cryptocurrency sector could eschew scrutiny, as it didn’t come into direct conflict with the government’s strategic plans, but this does not seem to be the case anymore.