I would like to think about possible DAC's for development but i am not sure i understand the exact requirements and limitations. I realise that at this stage of development no one knows where this could end up but i basic terms am i right thinking a DAC needs.
1. Somthing with a changing but well recognised number/value in the material world.
2. People willing to bet on which way that number/value will change.
This definition is a good start for the small sub-class of DACs that implement
prediction markets.
But DACs in general have a much broader definition. (Just look at the Wikipedia article on "
Decentralized Autonomous Corporations" to see one deep thinking author's greatly expanded view.)
To us, even Bitcoin is a DAC whose business is efficient currency exchange.
Bitcoin and the Three Laws of Robotics lists all kinds of possibilities and characteristics. Most of these have nothing to do with prediction markets.
To me, the essence is that a DAC has the characteristics of a corporation with its own currency and a public ledger into which it will store incorruptible information for a fee payable in its own currency. That's general enough to implement a whole lot of things we haven't even thought of yet.
Maybe you can get more ideas by scrubbing your succinct definition against the more verbose one on our web site below. Not every DAC needs all these characteristics, but the general definition should span this range of ideas at a minimum:
Distributed Autonomous Corporations (DACs) are a generalization of the concept of a crypto-currency where the currency is backed by the services its miners perform rather than a real-world commodity like gold, oil, or, ahem, thin air. If we can barter for goods and services, why can’t we back currencies with goods or services?
DACs may be simultaneously viewed as crypto-currencies and unmanned businesses. As businesses, they perform services intended to be valuable to their customers. Such services might include money transmission (Bitcoin), asset trading (BitShares), domain name services (DomainShares), or a thousand other business models sure to emerge as people realize that DACs are not mere “altcoins”.
DACs pay for the services they need (like computer resources and bandwidth) with shares of their own company “stock”. They charge for their services using those same shares. Finally, they transfer all profits they earn to their shareholders denominated in those same shares. To the extent that their services are in demand, those same shares will be in demand. Just like a brick and mortar and flesh and blood company.
To the outside world a DAC is nothing but a crypto-currency backed by the value of the services it provides. But as owners of shares in a DAC, you may be entitled to a share of the profits that DAC earns from providing those services. Every DAC will have its own terms and conditions. You can always choose to view your DAC shares polymorphically – either as spendable coins or as shares in a profitable, perhaps dividend-paying business. Just like light can be viewed as both a particle and a wave.
We'd love to hear other attempts at a 1-paragraph criterion for
DACness.