‘Dockland DAO’ to Help Melbourne Recover From COVID-19 Pandemic

According to a report released by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology’s (RMIT) Blockchain Innovation Hub, a pilot Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) will be implemented to assist precincts in the Melbourne CBD area in recovering from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The released report is part of a five-piece series of reports that is funded by the Victorian Government in Australia. The report details how blockchain technology, in this case DAOs, can be used to aid cities in recovering from the impacts of the pandemic, such as lack of economic activity, and to help them survive well into the future.

The report outlines a detailed plan for a DAO program called “Docklands DAO,” which will be implemented in the Docklands area in Melbourne.

The author of this report and Blockchain Innovation Hub researcher, Dr. Max Parasol, explained that DAOs can offer cities an innovative way to utilize anonymously pooled data. This includes optimizing resource allocation, better overall efficiency, and creating opportunities for strategic placemaking (collectively reinventing public spaces).

A DAO can be defined as a crowd-sourced entity governed by token holders and organized around a specific set of rules enforced on a blockchain.

Parasol also added that “DAOs incentivize participation, so those who work for the DAO will get more governance capability and so on. Ultimately the community gets to decide the governance mechanisms.” Parasol further explained that the Dockland DAO is designed to solve the “double stock” problem where local communities need some help recovering from the economic fallout caused by COVID-19 while also adapting to a work-from-home model.