Decentralized autonomous organizations: The new global digital venture capital

What makes a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)-based venture capital (VC) whitepaper trustworthy? We conducted a content analysis of 10 prominent DAO VC whitepapers to identify the relevant components that promote investors’ trust. Our findings show that there are 10 key components that can do so: registration, permissioned access, token-based voting, staking, separation of strategic and operational votes, duration of dynamic voting, adaptive quorum systems, “rage quit” mechanisms, organizational support structures, and comprehensive whitepaper sections. Our findings make two contributions to VC studies. First, we illuminate how blockchain technology fosters trust within the investment ecosystem, potentially mitigating the information asymmetries and opportunistic behavior prevalent in traditional VC settings. Second, we highlight the potential of blockchain-based DAO VCs to democratize access to capital and address resource imbalances. Hence, the availability of a clear, informative whitepaper plays an important role in improving the DAO VCs’ transparency, increasing access to the resources needed for informed decision-making, and improving the trust of prospective investors in this new investment vehicle.