Can DAOs Be Considered Solidarity Economy Organisations
* Article: Merk, T., Lotti, L., Houde, N., & Mannan, M. (2026). A workers’ inquiry in Decentralised Autonomous Organisations: Insights and policies to align blockchain-based work with the solidarity economy. Internet Policy Review, 15(1). doi
URL = https://policyreview.info/articles/analysis/decentralised-autonomous-organisations
Description
"This article explores whether DAOs can be considered solidarity economy organisations in practice by evaluating the type of working conditions they produce. Based on ethnographic research with 38 DAO contributors, rooted in workers’ inquiry, we examine the extent to which DAOs produce working conditions consistent with solidarity economy values, such as decent and stable employment. Our findings show that while many DAO contributors aspire for DAOs to be solidarity economy vehicles akin to cooperatives and mutualist organisations, in practice, DAO labour falls short of this vision. We identify key areas – psychosocial security, financial predictability, and regulatory clarity – that must be addressed for DAOs to realise their solidarity economy potential. Several proposals, generated through research activities with participants, are outlined to improve key issues."
Excerpts
Contributory Movivations to Join DAOs
Merk, T., Lotti, L. et al. :
"We consistently found that contributors were motivated to join DAOs for social reasons, such as a feeling of community, conviviality, or to work with colleagues whom interviewees found to be exceptionally talented people. Specifically, contributors use DAOs as an excuse for collaboration and to work alongside “gigabrains” (interviewee 5), whom they would not have been able to connect with easily in traditional work environments. As one contributor explained: “I meet really brilliant people and my mind is constantly expanded by them. So that's probably my main motivation” (interviewee 2). Furthermore, most contributors explicitly stated that money (especially earning more than “affording life” (interviewee 8)) was not their main motivation for joining a DAO. This indicates that people are predominantly motivated to join DAOs for values-oriented reasons over strictly financial incentives. Many contributors also stated that they were dissatisfied with traditional companies and disillusioned with the shareholder-driven economy. For some, DAOs simply catered to the style of working they aspired to: “remote work, asynchronous work that works for me. And I work best that way” (interviewee 8). Others hoped that contributing to DAOs would drive systemic change and impact in areas like the environment, open-source development, creative industries, and, not least, the workplace. As one interviewee put it, “is aligning with my values of being inclusive, being stakeholder minded, not only a small group of shareholders, but considering all your stakeholders in the community” (interviewee 21). However, while many excitedly shared the potential they saw for DAOs to bring about meaningful change, contributors also emphasised that the reality of working in DAOs did not always match this aspiration."
(https://policyreview.info/articles/analysis/decentralised-autonomous-organisations)