DAO criteria

While developing DAOs for various projects, DL analyzed dozens of existing solutions. Based on this, we tried to prepare a small (but fairly exhaustive) list of criteria - how different DAOs can differ.

Parameters that can be changed.

a. Which functionality/parameters of the system can be updated?
b. Will all functionality/parameters have the same rules (a voting mechanism) for
updating?
c. Are minor and major updates/decisions presumed (or more than two types)?
  i. What is the difference between these types (all other 2-8 criteria)?
d. Is there some difference between updating off-chain and on-chain
functionality/parameters?
  i. If yes - how does it affect other criteria (2-8)?
e. Can governance rules be changed via the governance process?

Asset(s) that are used for taking participants in the governance.

a. Will it be only one fungible token?
b. Will it be several fungible tokens with some ratio in the voting process (token
types are not equivalent)?
  i. Which ratio?
  ii. Will some types of token holders have some privileges (veto rights, for instance)?
c. Is some fungible but not transferable token presumed for voting?
d. Can some non-fungible tokens take a participant in the voting procedure, and
which specific rights do they have?
  i. What is the weight of voters with such tokens?
  ii. Some specific rights?
e. Can assets be delegated?
  i. “Delegation with approval” type of delegation - when the user allows to
   take his tokens and vote from his name.
  ii. “Electing delegation” is when the user locks assets and declares the
   account that receives more voting power (depending on the amount of
   provided assets).

Process of making the proposal.

a. Anyone can make a proposal?
b. Does can only a specific token(s) holder make a proposal?
c. Does the user need some tokens to make the proposal (threshold)?
d. Is it a paid option?
e. Is some stake presumed (the user needs to lock some tokens for the proposal)?
  i. With which purpose?
  ii. Can the user lose some part of the stake, and for which reasons?
  iii. How is the decision being made (and what is the influence of all criteria (1-7) for that)?

Voting

a. Is there a dependency between the number of tokens on the account and their
weight in the voting process?
b. Which types of voting are presumed?
  i. By centralized party;
  ii. Multisignature;
  iii. A simple majority (51%);
  iv. The relative majority (yes > no);
  v. Absolutely the majority (100%).
c. Is the user able to retract the vote (or revote)?
d. Are there requirements for voters’ anonymity?
e. Which timeline for the voting process?
f. Do use tokens (that take a participant in the voting process) have to be locked
for the whole period of time?
g. Will the result be calculated after the voting deadline or according to the
reaching results defined by the voting type (some types in 4b)?
h. Can tokens be transferred after the “ballot” sending?
  i. If yes - how are they calculated in the votes of 2 or more participants?

System improving

a. In which range must improvements be added?
b. How is the process of improvement validation performed?
c. Are any penalties presumed if the update was not added within the specified
period (possible only if the tokens are blocked for the offer)?
d. What parts of improvements are made entirely decentralized way, from voting to implementation?

Monetization process

a. How is the decision to monetize the incentive of a separate proposal made?
b. What are the rules (the above criteria) for it?
c. If a specific community's cost of the update is less than what the party that
offered the update is willing to receive, can such an offer be rejected?
  i. If so, on what terms?
  ii. Is there a penalty for this action?
d. At what stage (or stages) does the offer creator get paid?
e. What is the period after the system update before the payment to the party that
added this improvement, during which the payment must be made?
f. What is the procedure for appealing a payment?

Veto

a. Is there a veto in the DAO?
b. Who can veto (depending on the above criteria)?
c. How long after a decision can be vetoed?
d. Should a veto be provided along with an improvement proposal?

DAO environment

a. Single chain / multichain
b. What type of chain should support the DAO (EVM-based, Cosmos-based, etc.)
c. Will rules be different on different chains?
  i. That’s possible that the weight in the decision could differ on
different chains.
d. Are users able to transfer DAO tokens over chains?
  i. Are they able to do it within the DAO process?
  ii. Are there any requirements that presume tokens must not be locked before
   the voting ends?