Crowdfunding & Governance of DAOs: ICOs & Token Economic Incentives

In 2017, start-up funding through ICOs (Initial Crypto Offerings) surpassed traditional Venture Capital investments for the first time. Completely new types of firms, better described as ecosystems, are being bootstrapped into existence on the internet without any intermediaries. These crypto-tokens represent a new model for monetizing (open-source) community efforts and actor-oriented organizations. Never in history was access to capital for innovation made available on such a global scale. This book explores the phenomenon of these crowdfunded Blockchain-based decentralized organizations, including their financing and governance. These and other ICO mechanics are critically analyzed through three case studies: Ethereum, TheDAO and Steem.