Today, we’re announcing DAO.LINK (http://daolink.io/ website coming soon), an initiative which makes brick-and-mortar business interactions with blockchain-based organizations a practical reality.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of DAOs, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations are blockchain-based entities driven by immutable computer code as opposed to fragile, complex by-laws. We’ve led the development of the Standard DAO Framework to allow anyone to easily deploy their own DAO. Because DAOs consist of computer code, they interact with the physical world through Contractors.

These Contractors are hired based on the terms of irrefutable Proposals describing that relationship in detail including operating parameters, payment terms, milestones and deliverables. See this blog post for more information about Contractors.

A proper, 100% decentralized DAO such as this is only plausible on the Ethereum network as it’s the only blockchain that supports complex, autonomous smart contracts so far. Therefore, DAOs only speak ETH — the ‘fuel’ that powers the Ethereum network. Many smaller or individual Contractors will see this as an advantage, preferring the nimbleness of direct ETH transactions.

On the other hand, businesses which work within the classic established legal framework shy away from what seems like an impenetrable wall of regulatory limitations. Corporate invoices and purchase orders need a physical address and — let’s face it — “The DAO, Ethereum blockchain smart contract address 0x93139adb39alf…dd031” just isn’t going to cut it with your local tax office.

No one likes these… but it doesn’t mean they don’t exist

DAO.LINK makes it possible to bridge the divide between the blockchain and existing brick and mortar businesses. While I personally see 100% on-chain businesses as the inevitable future of the zero marginal cost society, I also think it’s important to understand that transitioning the centralized businesses of today requires an incremental on-boarding process. DAO.LINK provides such a process within the confines of the existing legal systems and regulatory frameworks.

The best part? DAO.LINK doesn’t detract from decentralization one bit. A Contractor opting to use the DAO.LINK service gets issued an Ethereum address which it then provides to DAOs in place of its own — that’s it. DAO.LINK then contracts with the DAO directly, and provides regulatory, tax, VAT solutions for the Contractor. DAO.LINK has set up the legal framework to give real world companies the ability to work for DAOs while still being able to fill out the necessary documentation required to stay compliant.

DAO.LINK is built in partnership with BITY.com, an ETH & BTC exchange with many innovative features including allowing their customers to buy and sell 250 USD/EUR/CHF per day only providing a phone number. Bity is operated by Bity SA, a fully-licensed company based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, audited by KPMG. DAO.LINK’s President will be Simon Jentzch, Alexis Roussel will join as Member, while myself and Gian Bochsler will serve as Member Advisors.

Bity made it possible to create a compliant, legal framework for interacting with DAOs

Gian Bochsler, Co-Founder at BITY, said: “We live in a world organized around laws and regulations. This cannot be ignored, but in time, a day will come when technology and regulation find an equilibrium. Each big innovation creates a gap which needs to be filled. The DAO.LINK model helps bridge the gaps”.

Simon Jentszch, CEO at Slock.it UG added “It should come to no surprise that DAO.LINK is the platform we will be using at Slock.it UG to interact with the DAO that will receive our Proposal to build the Ethereum Computer and its app/dapp ecosystem.”

We look forward to revealing more about DAO.LINK in the coming weeks. In the meantime and as usual, please contact us by email at [email protected] or on our Slack if you have any questions.