DAO

See also: Appendix:Variations of "dao"

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /daʊ/
• Rhymes: -aʊ

Noun

DAO (countable and uncountable, plural DAOs)

1. (petrochemistry) Initialism of de-asphalted oil, a crude oil refinery process stream.
2. (computing) Initialism of disk-at-once, an optical disk recording mode.
3. (software engineering) Initialism of data access object, a design pattern.
4. (firearms) Initialism of double action only, a trigger mechanism for revolving cylinder and semi-automatic firearms.
5. (cryptocurrencies, Web3) Acronym of decentralized autonomous organization, an autonomous entity based on smart contracts on a blockchain.
   • 2014 March 8, Primavera De Filippi, “Tomorrow's Apps Will Come From Brilliant (And Risky) Bitcoin Code”, in Wired‎^[1], →ISSN:

     As the name suggests, DAOs are autonomous entities that subsist independently from any legal or moral entity. After they have been created and deployed onto the internet, they no longer need (nor heed) their creators.

   • 2016, Siraj Raval, Decentralized Applications‎^[2], O'Reilly Media, →ISBN:

     Humans aren't in charge, they are on the edges. AI is what makes the decisions and the DAO maintains itself. DAOs aren't just defined by having AI make all the decisions, they also have their own internal capital.

   • 2022 January 25, David Yaffe-Bellany, “The Rise of the Crypto Mayors”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     But with the mayor’s backing, Mr. Nelson is planning to establish a trust fund that would serve as the basis of the DAO. “I’m dreaming,” he said. “Two Harbors could turn into Disneyland.”

   • 2022 March 2, Erin Woo, Kevin Roose, “This Social Club Runs On Crypto Tokens and Vibes”, in The New York Times‎^[4], →ISSN:

     DAOs, which have been described as “financial flash mobs” or “group chats with bank accounts,” are among the fastest-growing parts of the crypto ecosystem.

Proper noun

DAO

1. (fandom slang) Initialism of Dragon Age: Origins.

   Synonym: DA1

Further reading

• DAO on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• ADO, AOD, DOA, ODA, Oda, ado, oad, oda