Proposal link:
https://conviction.aragon.org/#/proposal/28
Proposal description:
The Summoners at Etherize propose the development of a ‘Legal’ Aragon dApp for…
- Tying a DAO to a pre-formed Delaware or Wyoming Series LLC through OtoCo (free for the first year)
- Tying the DAO to a newly formed DAO to a Wyoming LLC or Non-Profit through Etherize
- Generating and storing legal documents, including articles of formation and operating agreements
- Issuing votes to approve formation, and other legal actions, through the DAO
Expanded:
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OtoCo is a subsidiary of the formation company Otonomos. They recently launched a revolutionary product that allows people to generate a ERC20 token that is tied to a ‘Series LLC’. A Series LLC may have thousands of ‘children’, or ‘series’. Each ‘parent’ enters into a legal agreement with the owner of the ‘child’, so that the ‘child’ is entirely controlled by the owner of the ERC20 token.
This could easily be expanded to DAOs. This solution is fast (it doesn’t require forming a new entity w/ the State) and is ideal for a new DAO that is seeking to gain some legal presence w/o committing financial resources towards forming a new, traditional legal entity. OtoCo is offering this service for free for the first year, but after that Registered Agent fees would apply. -
Etherize is a formation company focused on providing legal wrappers for DAOs in Wyoming’s crypto-friendly jurisdiction. The proposal would include an option to form a new LLC, Non-Profit, or C-Corp through the Legal dApp. The proposal would need to be approved by a tokenholder vote, and an appropriate amount of funds would be transferred to Etherize to cover the formation if the vote passes.
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Generating legal documents is a necessary step for DAOs to be able to interface with the real world. This project’s scope would include generating legal documents using client-side javascript, that would then be stored on IPFS.
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Proposals through the legal dApp would need to go through the Voting or Agent dApp. This proposal includes integration with those two dApps, so that the tokenholders are able to vote before a legal entity is formed. In some cases, a legal action may go through Agent, in which case a DAO member with proper permissions would be able to execute a contract without needing a DAO vote to authorize it.
Proposal Rationale
‘Hybrid entities’ combine legal and etheric components to create something greater than the sum of their parts.
By hooking up a legal entity to a DAO, a DAO is able to…
- enter into legally binding agreements with corporations and humans
- gain protections afforded to legal entities, such as intellectual property claims
- limit the personal liability of the DAO’s members, in the event of catastrophic failure
Etherize has made summoning Hybrid Entities accessible through its Portal. However, we seek to streamline this process for Aragon DAOs, making formation and legal services available through a dedicated Aragon dApp.
In addition to providing ‘turnkey’ formation, this proposal will provide a foundation for legal document generation and signing by DAOs through the Voting and Agent dApps, allowing them to better transact business with human and corporate partners.
TL;DR: By bridging the ‘ethereal’ realm of DAOs and the ‘legal’ realm of corporations, DAOs will be able to permeate every day life.
Proposal Information
Expected duration:
3 months
Team Information ( For Funding Proposals )
Tristan Roberts - github twitter
Ian Philips - github
Jose Aguinaga github
(We will likely draw upon the CryptoLaw experts of LexDAO to help
Skills and previous experience in related or similar work:
Etherize has already made ‘hybrid’ operating agreements (for LLCs) and bylaws (for non-profits) on OpenLaw’s platform that could be adapted to this project. We also have experience developing with Aragon Connect.
Etherize originally submitted a proposal for the NEST program in early 2019.
Since then, we’ve been building out the vision of bridging the ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ worlds, as you can see on our summoning Portal.
We’ve been primarily funded by hackathons; picking up the ‘Consensys Prize’ at WyoHackathon 2018, ‘Best for Wyoming’ at WyoHacathon 2019. Our team participated in the ‘Hack for Freedom’ and won a prize from Abridged/Collab19 for continuing their work on bridging Aragon and Telegram, by combining Aragon Connect and Discourse for the Research Collective.
Funding Information
Amount of ANT requested:
888
Ethereum address where funds shall be transferred:
0x262b4F07e42BBc33F597fcf0d854e9DAFaf3D469
More detailed description of how funds will be handled and used:
Etherize Entities LLC is currently using a Rinkeby DAO, so the project lead (Tristan) will handle the funds with his personal address (listed above).
Funds will be disbursed to contributors based on hours contributed.
Updated 9/10 - added proposal link, upped request amount from 777 to 888.
