Devcon Archive logo
Devcon Forum Blog
  • Watch
  • Event
    Event: background logo
    • Devcon 7
    • Devcon 6
    • Devcon 5
    • Devcon 4
    • Devcon 3
    • Devcon 2
    • Devcon 1
    • Devcon 0
  • Categories
    Categories: background logo
    • Cryptoeconomics
    • Devcon
    • Developer Experience
    • Coordination
    • Core Protocol
    • Layer 2s
    • Real World Ethereum
    • Cypherpunk & Privacy
    • Security
    • Applied Cryptography
    • Usability
  • Playlists

Suggested

Loading results..

View all

About Devcon —

Devcon is the Ethereum conference for developers, researchers, thinkers, and makers.

An intensive introduction for new Ethereum explorers, a global family reunion for those already a part of our ecosystem, and a source of energy and creativity for all.

  • Watch
  • Devcon
  • Forum
  • Blog

Get in touch

devcon@ethereum.org

Subscribe to our newsletter

Crafted with passion ❤️ at the Ethereum Foundation

© 2025 — Ethereum Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

devcon 7 / trust zones why daos will be the best organizations ever created

  • YouTube
  • Details

Trust Zones: Why DAOs will be the best organizations ever created

Duration: 00:08:25

Speaker: Spencer Graham

Type: Lightning Talk

Expertise: Intermediate

Event: Devcon

Date: Nov 2024

This talk introduces the theory of Trust Zones. Every Trust Zone is a unique blend of constraints, reputation requirements, and accountability measures, within which an agent can operate on behalf of an organization to further its goals. I will contend that the operational management of all organizations can be described as creating new Trust Zones and adjusting their parameters. And further, that DAOs and other onchain organizations can do this better than any other organizational form.

Categories

DAOGovernancetrustedDAOGovernance
  • Related
Agreement Making in Solidity: A Legal Perspective preview
Devcon
Talk
16:18

Agreement Making in Solidity: A Legal Perspective

Bill Marino of Cornell Tech presents on Agreement Making in Solidity: A Legal Perspective.

The Shape of Protocols to Come preview
Devcon
Talk
23:22

The Shape of Protocols to Come

Ethereum defies easy categorization—it blends aspects of money, nations, and more, yet doesn't fit neatly into any single category. To build better mental models for understanding Ethereum, we've spent the past two years stepping back and exploring the broader class it belongs to: Protocols. This talk explores the fundamental properties of protocols, strategies for navigating them, and how Ethereum can uniquely contribute to this emerging research field.

DAOs Unmasked: The Hard Truths Behind the Hype preview
Devcon
Talk
27:50

DAOs Unmasked: The Hard Truths Behind the Hype

In this talk we will see what a DAO is, what its not and face some hard truths about DAOs and how they are used today. Does a DAO stand for Discord Administered Organization? Is a DAO just a discord chat and a multisig? Is a DAO a way for your company to have 2 cap tables, one for your and your investors and one for your community? Are DAOs a face for a Cayman Islands foundation which uses decentralization theater to shift liability? Are DAOs a way to sidestep regulations? Let's find out!

Cultivating the Understory : Building Resilient DAOs preview
Devcon
Talk
26:09

Cultivating the Understory : Building Resilient DAOs

Let's explore the overlooked "understory" of DAOs and teams: the human layer that forms the foundation of successful decentralized governance. While much attention is given to the technical and structural aspects of DAOs (the "overstory"), we'll dive into the cultural, social, and distributed leadership elements that are crucial for the longevity and effectiveness of anything we build. Themes: DAO Ecology, Decentralized leadership, Coding culture DNA, Biomimicry for Governance

Onchain Capital Allocation: From current mechanisms to future possbilities preview
Devcon
Talk

Onchain Capital Allocation: From current mechanisms to future possbilities

Capital allocation, from paying bills to complex organizational funding, often suffers from inefficiencies and lack of transparency. Web3 has the potential to revolutionize this by enabling more efficient, effective, and transparent capital distribution. By addressing coordination failures and introducing new onchain strategies, crypto could transform how society allocates resources. Gitcoin founder Kevin Owocki will articulate this design space in this 20 minute talk.

The next generation of governors will be modular! preview
Devcon
Lightning Talk
06:58

The next generation of governors will be modular!

Onchain governance is one of the main non-financial usecases of ethereum. Still, innovation in that space is slow, and deployed solution are still very much tighted to financial assets. In order to move away from that situation, and build more powerfull governance solution, we need to build a more modular and evolutive approach.

Common Knowledge Machines preview
Devcon
Lightning Talk
17:37

Common Knowledge Machines

Common knowledge is a precondition for collective action. Yet, increasing polarization in information ecosystems risks undermining common knowledge formation. This talk introduces Community Posts, a mechanism that leverages diversification and zero-knowledge proofs to help people identify divides, bridge them and find common ground, fostering greater common knowledge in social networks.

DAOs and BORGs: blending the best trust-minimization techniques of the onchain and offchain worlds preview
Devcon
Talk
27:21

DAOs and BORGs: blending the best trust-minimization techniques of the onchain and offchain worlds

In his talk, Gabriel will give an overview of the legal challenges faced by DAOs and how ‘making DAOs modular’ with specialized legal wrappers and smart contracts known as ‘cybernetic orgs” (BORGs) can solve these problems. The talk will tie the evolution of DAOs to the modular revolution in blockchain infrastructure and a detailed walk-through of how modified Gnosis SAFEs can be combined with legal entity bylaws to blend the best trust-minimization techniques of the onchain and offchain worlds.

L2 DAOs - biggest challenges we face to make L2s sustainable long term preview
Devcon
Talk
25:00

L2 DAOs - biggest challenges we face to make L2s sustainable long term

Today L2 DAOs are mostly focused on growth and supporting their ecosystem builders. But long-term they will be responsible for the management and maintenance of their chains from all perspectives - ecosystem growth, software development, security, chain economic parameters management, and others. In this talk, I will explore what DAOs need to figure out and fix before they will be able to take this responsibility in the coming years and why we should be addressing those issues already today.

Backfeed preview
Devcon
Talk
14:40

Backfeed

Matan Field presents on Backfeed (http://backfeed.cc), which develops resilient technology and new economic models to support free, large-scale, systematic collaboration.