[pdabbadabba]

There are any number of other, more rational ways of doing this. The only "problem" is that they don't involve crypto because, in this case, crypto brings absolutely nothing to the table that I can discern except an increased risk of getting scammed. The most obvious would be to sell shares in a corporation or LLC. That entity could then use the money raised to buy the constitution. That way the funders would actually have something of recognized legal value (fractional ownership in an entity that owns a copy of the U.S. Constitution) instead of a largely worthless "governance token."

Under the current approach, it seems like people are being asked to contribute money so that someone else can buy a copy of the U.S. Constitution, with the funders having--at best--merely a say in how/where it is displayed. I can't imagine why anyone would want to do this, unless they are misunderstanding what they are getting in return for their ETH.

[bugzz]

> crypto brings absolutely nothing to the table that I can discern except an increased risk of getting scammed

So you think it'd have the same chances of success if it didn't involve crypto? Of course not! Yes the point is it's crypto, it's experimenting with new ways of doing things, and that's what people want to be a part of.

[pdabbadabba]

But doesn't this just give the game away? It seems like you're simply agreeing that the only reason this is happening is crypto hype. There is nothing actually better about crypto for this application, it's just channeling (or taking advantage of) people's general excitement about crypto.

And, honestly, I get that. There's nothing wrong with wanting to participate in something new. But nobody should be deceived into thinking that DAOs are really creating any important new capabilities here.

[bugzz]

> There is nothing actually better about crypto for this application

> The most obvious would be to sell shares in a corporation or LLC

Well certainly you can do it faster with crypto. How long would it take to set up the corporation / LLC? How quickly / easily could people buy shares? Could anyone buy shares?

Yes there are more risks this way, but I don't think there are zero benefits to the crypto approach.

[pdabbadabba]

It's true that, in theory, you can do it faster with crypto. But I don't see how that benefit is material. It's easy to set up an LLC in approx. 1 day. With crypto, I guess you could theoretically do it in seconds. But, as this project demonstrates, delay in setting up the entity isn't the limiting factor. Actually raising the funds takes much longer.

And it's not as though setting up a DAO is easier. Both require either a substantial amount of domain-specific knowledge, or trust in general purpose tools/forms.

Can we think of a a similar case where the crypto speed benefit would be meaningful?

Edit: Your question about who can buy shares raises an interesting issue. It may be true that, if you did this in the traditional way, you could only sell shares to accredited investors. (I'm not sure. But that's my hunch.) But I wouldn't be so sure that these same rules don't apply to DAOs. It may be a complex legal question, and I haven't researched it, but I would certainly not assume that these solicitation rules don't apply to soliciting contributions to DAO's. After all, the same regulatory goal applies: preventing amateur investors from getting scammed, or taking on more risk than they had intended, through private-placement style investments where there are fewer market signals to help people make informed decisions. (Of course, it's a separate question whether we should have laws like that in the first place.)

[V__]

Setting up a LLC takes a day or two and about 100 dollars.

You dont even need to sell shares, just a contract which entitles you to a vote or a future share of the company.

[throwaway243]

Sounds boring. Nobody likes to deal with bureaucracy.

[pdabbadabba]

I think this is the real answer. People are just having more fun doing it this way. That's OK. But I worry they're getting scammed as a result, and that's not going to convince anyone else to use a DAO for anything important.

[MrMan]

I can create an LLC online in an hour. Then people can Venmo me or something. The tech part is not the interesting part, its interesting that this whole effort ignores or seems to ignore the fact that people are just donating money to help someone buy something - even if its "boring", it would be more honest to admit that tokens dont connote any rights, and shares in an LLC do.