Hello everyone, I’m Brother Bird, the news I got overseas:
Every technological revolution has changed the way we work. Plows turned hunter-gatherers into farmers. Spinning Jenny and power looms turned farmers into factory workers. Industrial automation and computers turned factory workers into office workers, and then the internet fundamentally changed the way we get work done. And now, a new transformation is coming that promises to change the way we work again: Web3.
Web3 represents the next iteration of the World Wide Web. It is built on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies with higher decentralization, transparency and shared ownership. As Chris Dixon, general partner at venture firm Andreesen Horowitz, tweeted, Web1 is read-only (directory), Web2 is read-write (social media), and Web3 is read-write.
Web3 looks set to change jobs as we know it. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, or DAOs, will be the tools that lead the way.
The DAO is effectively owned and managed by those who hold a sufficient amount of the DAO’s native token, functioning like a cryptocurrency. For example, $FWB is the native token of the popular social DAO called Friends With Benefits, which people can buy, earn or trade. Today, crypto investor and DAO thought leader Cooper Turley depicts many different permutations of DAOs in this image, some more decentralized than others. DAOs cover everything from media organizations to venture funds and grant programs, social networks, video games, financial and technology platforms, and philanthropy.
Insight Center Collection
reimagine work
Beyond returning to “normal”.
So how exactly are DAOs changing the way we work?
More autonomy in where, when and how you work
With the proliferation of DAOs, we may be contributing a few hours a week to several DAOs instead of just one employer and 40 hours a week. This is already typical among early adopters in the field. Today’s creator economy, made up of vloggers, bloggers, and podcasters, can give us a glimpse into what the Web3 world of work looks like, with the typical creator earning income from a variety of projects, such as mentoring, consulting, and monetizing various content Platforms like YouTube, SubStack, and Patreon.
Freedom to do more meaningful work
The tech-centric nature of DAOs may lead to the automation of basic algorithmic work, allowing contributors to be the most creative and useful versions, and allowing them to spend more time on high-value activities — the type that stimulates fluid states — Spend less time on monotonous, shallow tasks.
While 85% of the global workforce today is idle at work, DAOs will give people more freedom to choose projects whose mission and vision truly resonate with them, jobs that align with their strengths, and people who align with their values to work with. It also helps reduce work-life conflict, excessive workload, lack of autonomy and office politics that lead to work stress.
greater decision-making power
Contributors will be able to vote on key decisions using their DAO’s native tokens. You can get a glimpse of the various decisions that DAO members have voted on on Snapshot, which is essentially a decentralized voting system. That being said, the existing voting mechanism has been criticized by the likes of Vitalik Buterin , the founder of Ethereum , the open-source blockchain that serves as the base layer for most Web3 applications. So this type of voting is likely to evolve over time.
different compensation structures
While the DAO may have a core set of contributors (at least in the early stages) who may be involved full-time or even earn a salary, most people who contribute to the DAO will complete personal tasks or “bounties” such as “build a message application” or “managing an online community forum”. Contributors can work to earn (W2E) and generate native tokens or fiat currencies in USDC , USD-pegged cryptocurrencies, or both.
For example, I recently pitched an article for investing in DAO Global Coin Research and received 30 native $GCR tokens. These tokens can be traded for other tokens or fiat currencies on exchanges such as UniSwap, and represent ownership of the DAO – limited by the number of tokens in its token pool, which is the same as the company’s restricted total number of shares.
Token holders can then use platforms like Yearn to “stake” their tokens. Staking effectively amounts to depositing tokens into a central liquidity pool, which is used to validate blockchain transactions. Stakers earn APY (annual yield), which is effectively equivalent to interest, which can exceed 20% in some cases.
In developing countries, a variant of W2E, the earn-as-you-play (P2E) model, has yielded results for a group of teens. For example, Axie Infinity is a token-based video game where players can collect, breed, raise, fight, and trade creatures known as Axies . The game’s native token, AXS, has a market cap of $4.3 billion at the time of writing. But unlike traditional video games, where players don’t actually own peripheral assets like their characters or swords, players own their Axies as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) that can be sold on the game marketplace They. The average Axie gamer – usually a teen in the Philippines – earns around $10 to $20 a day playing games, which is comparable to the country’s average salary, and Axie prices appreciate over time, some of them The price would reach around 300 ETH at $1 million at the time of writing. Axie Infinity generated $1.3 billion in 2021 attributable to Axie marketplace transaction fees and Axie breeding fees.
Another permutation of this model is Learning to Earn (L2E). An example is the platform RabbitHole, which lets you learn about Web3 applications. Other permutations include generating income (C2E) – such as writing articles or designing artwork in exchange for tokens, and using income (U2E), such as posting comments and using Web3 social media applications such as Minds.
In addition to this, token holders can speculate on their tokens, whose price may increase over time based on supply and demand, just like traditional stocks in companies.
Work anytime, anywhere
As many traditional managers with apparent trust issues continue to hide under the guise of “team cohesion” while sending everyone back to the office post-pandemic, DAOs not only don’t care where you work, they don’t care when you work or you What it looks like at work – in fact, many contributors can only be identified by their NFT profile photo. Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph said on the Future Squared podcast, “In a place where you’re only evaluated on the quality of your work, no one really cares about how you look.”
Most DAO contributors are likely to work remotely, connecting in virtual social spaces like CryptoVoxels or The Sandbox, rather than working in a central office and taking two to four weeks off year-round, with a few days or weeks of the year to get together. Real life with inspiring conferences and retreats.
Traditional organizations that require employees to come into the office two to three days a week effectively keep employees in one place — usually close to the central business district. Companies with such antiquated and constrained roles may find it increasingly difficult to win the battle for millennials, especially Gen Z talent.
Some might argue that, like many gig economy companies, the DAO threatens labor rights, but the DAO itself is seeking to address this problem. For example, Crypto employment cooperative Opolis helps DAO contributors and contractors get their health insurance and 401K retirement plans in order.
The DAO movement is still in its infancy, and there are many challenges in governance and trust that need to be addressed. Mainstream adoption of Web3 depends on addressing issues related to user experience (UX), security, scalability, and regulatory clarity. However, at the current rate of talent acquisition, financing and innovation, mainstream diffusion may happen sooner or later.
Essentially, Web3 promises more fulfilling, more results-oriented work, with a more equitable distribution of ownership and rewards—a future worth building for.