Today the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) said it formed a group to initiate a Distributed Autonomous Organization (DAO) as a pilot. The IGF used the term ‘distributed’ rather than ‘decentralized’. It wants to explore how public sector bodies can deploy blockchain and DAO principles for governance structures. Typically this involves using smart contracts and digital tokens to vote on decisions.

For the experiments, the IGF has created a Dynamic Coalition (DC) which sounds like an independent working group. The topic of the coalition is Blockchain Assurance + Standardisation (BAS), which has a much broader scope than just DAOs. We believe the coalition will use the DAO to organize its own governance. Typically these coalitions produce reports and guidelines.

One of the co-leaders is Mr. Dino Cataldo Dell’Accio who is also CIO of the United National Joint Staff Pension Fund. “This initiative signifies a pivotal step toward establishing innovative and secure governance models, ensuring that blockchain technology can be harnessed for the benefit of public sector organizations,” he said. “The UN IGF DC-BAS remains committed to fostering collaboration, transparency, and the responsible adoption of emerging technologies.”

Apart from DAO Governance, research topics cover digital asset management, identity, blockchain accessibility and security and the use of the technology for economic development and investments.

Stakeholders include representatives from two central banks – Brazil and Nigeria. Other participants include staff from government ministries in Nigeria, the US, the UK, UAE and Vietnam. The Government Blockchain Association is the coordinator.