DAO
An organization governed by token-holder votes, no CEO.
A Decentralized Autonomous Organization is a company that runs entirely on smart contracts and votes. Token holders vote on budget, hiring, protocol changes. Biggest DAOs: Uniswap ($6B+ treasury), MakerDAO, ENS, Aave. Pros: full transparency, no single point of control. Cons: slow decisions, governance attacks, low voter turnout.
In plain words
A company with no CEO or board. All decisions, such as how to spend money or whether to change the protocol, are made by token-holder votes. The more you hold, the bigger your voice. It sounds great, but in practice, 90% of voters are funds and bots, turnout is low, and decisions are slow. However, it works. Uniswap governs a $6B+ treasury this way.
Example
MakerDAO 2024: MKR holders voted for the 'Sky' rebrand and token swap to SKY.