In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was formed in what many consider the worlds first initial public offering allowing perfect strangers to share in stock ownership. Four centuries later, the joint-stock model especially its incarnation as the modern business corporation sets the pace for much of the economic world.
But, decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, could soon disrupt the joint-stock capitalized business model, much as the Dutch East India supplanted the limited partnerships of its day or so some may say.