As the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem grows in size and influence, the question of how to best govern DeFi protocols has taken center stage. In crypto-native circles, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are far and away the most popular governance structures.
DAOs are often touted as an all-in-one fix for everything from investor-manager alignment to regulatory risk. However, as a spate of well-publicized internal disputes and regulatory crackdowns has shown, DAO governance is not a panacea.
Alex O’Donnell is the founder and CEO of Umami Labs and worked as an early contributor to Umami DAO. Prior to Umami Labs, he worked for seven years as a financial journalist at Reuters, where he covered M&A and IPOs.