The blockchain DAO as an evolution of the North American trust: Legal and philosophical aspects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33324/dicere.v2i1.877Keywords:
DAO, blockchain, trust, trustee, common law, civil lawAbstract
This article explores the philosophical foundations of the North American trust and its connection to blockchain technology, proposing that Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) represent its direct technological evolution. Rooted in Common Law traditions, the trust derives from an emphasis on negative liberty, where individuals shield their property from state intervention by transferring legal ownership to a trustee. This arrangement maintains autonomy and resists potential shifts in government regulation or policy. DAOs, driven by self-executing smart contracts, retain the trust’s fundamental purpose—protecting assets and ensuring independent governance—while eliminating reliance on a single fiduciary. By dispersing administrative power across a decentralized network, DAOs enhance resilience against political and economic unpredictability. However, European jurisdictions, influenced by Rousseau’s notion of positive liberty, traditionally subordinate property to the collective interest, thus restricting trusts and, more recently, imposing regulatory measures on blockchain organizations. In Europe, this idea often collides with legal frameworks that prioritize public interests, leading to regulatory scrutiny of blockchain-based systems. Despite these challenges, DAOs continue to refine the trust’s core principles in a technologically advanced environment, offering security and autonomy. Ultimately, this evolution reaffirms the enduring tension between individual freedom from governmental authority that underpins the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition.
Downloads
References
Abdo, K., DeConcini, G., & Matson, T. (2016). Death, taxes & rock n’ roll: Music, law, and aging artist’s estates. Entertainment & Sports Lawyer, 33, 21. Retrieved from: https://foxrothschild.gjassets.com/content/uploads/2017/03/Death-Taxes-and-Legacy-Management.pdf
Alqarni, A. (2024). A blockchain-based solution for transparent intellectual property rights management: Smart contracts as enablers. Kybernetes. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-04-2024-1074 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/K-04-2024-1074
Asante, S. K. (1965). Fiduciary principles in Anglo-American law and the customary law of Ghana—a comparative study. International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 14(4), 1144–1188. https://doi.org/10.1093/iclqaj/14.4.1144 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/iclqaj/14.4.1144
Bell, A., & Parchomovsky, G. (2014). Copyright trust. Cornell Law Review, 100, 1015.
Bergström, F. (2023). Legal classification of DAOs: The ability for a DAO to be recognized as a legal person under Swedish Association law. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1762387/FULLTEXT02
Berlin, I. (1958). Two concepts of liberty. In I. Berlin, Four essays on liberty (pp. 118–172). Oxford University Press.
Bodellini, M., & Dalvinder, S. (2021). Decentralised autonomous organizations: Looking for a suitable regulatory treatment. Open Review of Management, Banking and Finance, 1–16.
Brewer, R. (2003). Conservancy: The land trust movement in America. UPNE.
Bruner, C. M. (2009). Power and purpose in the Anglo-American corporation. Virginia Journal of International Law, 50, 579–620. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=1575039
California Probate Code. (2023). Sections 15200–15210. Retrieved from https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
Calcaterra, C. (2023). Reputation tokenomics: DAO governance design analysis. Retrieven from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=5018833
Caviezel, M., Spychiger, F., & Stallone, V. (2023, April). Aspects for implementations of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) in Switzerland. In World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (pp. 366–376). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45648-0_36 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45648-0_36
Cid, E. H. (2017). ¿Se puede adaptar el trust al ordenamiento jurídico español? El notario del siglo XXI: Revista del Colegio Notarial de Madrid, (72), 183–187.
Daly, M. (2024). Cultivating access: The benefits and challenges of using community land trusts to preserve farmland and support farmers. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12330?utm_source=scholarworks.umt.edu%2Fetd%2F12330&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
David, R., Jauffret-Spinosi, C., & Goré, M. (2016). Les grands systèmes de droit contemporains. Dalloz.
Davis, J. E. (2010). Origins and evolution of the community land trust in the United States. The Community Land Trust Reader, 1(4), 3–47.
Delaware General Corporation Law. (1988). Delaware Statutory Trust Act, Del. Code tit. 12, §§ 3801–3862. Retrieved from https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c038/
DuPont, Q., Gkikaki, M., & Rowan, C. (2020). DAO, blockchain and cryptography. A conversation with Quinn Dupont. Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v7i3.594 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v7i3.594
Duguit, L. (1912). Les transformations générales du droit privé depuis le Code Napoléon. Librairie Félix Alcan.
Emerich, Y. (2018). Conceptualising property law: Integrating common law and civil law traditions. Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788111843
European Central Bank. (2023). The future of DAOs in finance: In need of legal status (Occasional Paper No. 331). Retrieved from https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpops/ecb.op331~a03e416045.en.pdf
Földi, A. (2009). Historic and dogmatic aspects of the triad of proprietary rights. In Scritti in onore di Generoso Melillo. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/download/57220149/Studi_Melillo_20180820.pdf
Furnari, S., & Villani, C. (2024). Regulation of financial protocol DAOs: Addressing the problems of decentralization and AI governance. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5023440
Gässl, D., & Weidinger, J. (2023). Unlocking the Potential of DAOs: Legal Challenges, Regulatory Solutions, and Opportunities for a New Paradigm in Business [Technical Report]. Leopold-Franzens Universität Innsbruck. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.23934.77128
Golding, M. (1994). Financial aspects of Oregon limited liability companies. Oregon Law Review, 73, 55.
Hansmann, H., & Mattei, U. (1998). The functions of trust law: A comparative legal and economic analysis. New York University Law Review, 73(2), 434–467. Retrieved from https://openyls.law.yale.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.13051/4605/73NYULRev434.pdf
Haryadi, G. A., Rahaman, M. F., Subhan, M. R., Lee, J. M., & Kim, D. S. (2023). Comparative study of cryptocurrency wallet security: A hybrid, hot, and cold wallet approach. 한국통신학회 학술대회논문집, 97–98. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Md-Subhan-2/publication/375187201_Comparative_Study_of_Cryptocurrency_Wallet_Security_A_Hybrid_Hot_and_Cold_Wallet_Approach/links/654372ff0426ef6369f65808/Comparative-Study-of-Cryptocurrency-Wallet-Security-A-Hybrid-Hot-and-Cold-Wallet-Approach.pdf
Hayek, F. A. (1960). The constitution of liberty. University of Chicago Press.
Hegel, G. W. F. (1991). Hegel: Elements of the philosophy of right. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511808012
Hude, Z., Iglicar, M., & Mondoh, B. S. (2023). DAOs: Introducing a new era of governance. Zbornik Znanstvenih Razprav, 83, 195. https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627221095105 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51940/2023.1.195-219
Jaffey, P. (2015). Explaining the trust. Law Quarterly Review, 131, 377–401. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3799566
Knobel, A. (2017). Trusts: Weapons of mass injustice? SSRN. Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=2943493 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2943493
Kolektivo. (2022). The Kolektivo framework: Regenerative finance at institutional scale (Blue paper v1.0) [PDF]. Retrieved from https://assets.website-files.com/5fcaa3a6fcb269f7778d1f87/63297723f700491a0698ab5a_Kolektivo%20Bluepaper.pdf?ref=blog.refidao.com
LandDAO. (2025). Launch: LandDAO [Website]. Retrieved from https://launch.landdao.io/
Langbein, J. H. (1995). The contractarian basis of the law of trusts. Yale Law Journal, 105, 625. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/797196
Liu, L., Zhou, S., Huang, H., & Zheng, Z. (2021). From technology to society: An overview of blockchain-based DAO. IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society, 2, 204–215. https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCS.2021.3072661 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCS.2021.3072661
Manski, S. (2017). Building the blockchain world: Technological commonwealth or just more of the same? Strategic Change, 26(5), 511–522. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2151 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2151
McGuire, M. R. (2023). The internet, personal jurisdiction, and DAOs. Washington & Lee Law Review, 80, 1217. : https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr/vol80/iss3/8
Merenlender, A. M., Huntsinger, L., Guthey, G., & Fairfax, S. K. (2004). Land trusts and conservation easements: Who is conserving what for whom? Conservation Biology, 18(1), 65–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00401.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00401.x
Merk, T. (2024). The unusual DAO: An ethnography of building trust in “trustless” spaces. Internet Policy Review, 13(3). https://doi.org/10.14763/2024.3.1795 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14763/2024.3.1795
Michels, K., & Hindin, D. A. (2022). Building collaboration among community land trusts providing affordable housing and conservation land trusts protecting land for ecological value. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Retrieved from: https://go.lincolninst.edu/Michels_WP23KM1.pdf
Mill, J. S. (1859). On liberty. Longman, Roberts & Green.
Mienert, B. (2021). How can a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) be legally structured? Legal Revolutionary Journal (LRZ). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3992329 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3992329
Nevada Legislature. (2011). Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 163 – Trusts. Retrieved from https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-163.html
Newman, A. (2008). Revocable trusts and the law of wills: An imperfect fit. Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal, 43, 523.
Nabben, K. (2021). Decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) as data trusts: A general-purpose data governance framework for decentralised data ownership, storage, and utilisation. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4009205 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4009205
Parker, D. P., & Thurman, W. N. (2019). Private land conservation and public policy: Land trusts, land owners, and conservation easements. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 11(1), 337–354. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-100518-094121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-100518-094121
Rivero Silva, S. (2024). Miramax, LLC vs. Quentin Tarantino y Romantica, INC: A propósito de la comercialización no autorizada de los Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) del guion de Pulp Fiction. Ciencia Jurídica, 13(25), 42–57. https://doi.org/10.15174/cj.v13i25.480 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15174/cj.v13i25.480
Rikken, O., Janssen, M., & Kwee, Z. (2023). The ins and outs of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs): Unraveling the definitions, characteristics, and emerging developments of DAOs. Blockchain: Research and Applications, 4(3), 100143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcra.2023.100143 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcra.2023.100143
Rong, H., & Mao, Z. (2023). Deep-dive into CityDAO: An experiment in collective land ownership and decentralized governance. Harvard Kennedy School, Technology and Public Purpose Project. Retrieved from https://belfercenter.org/TAPP
Rousseau, J. J. (1762). Du contract social, ou Principes du droit politique (Vol. 3). Chez Marc Michel Rey.
Rounds Jr., C. E. (1990). Social investing, IOLTA and the law of trusts: The settlor’s case against the political use of charitable and client funds. Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, 22, 163.
Santos, F. (2018). The DAO: A Million Dollar Lesson in Blockchain Governance (Master's thesis). Tallinn University of Technology, School of Business and Governance, Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance.
Santana, C., & Albareda, L. (2022). Blockchain and the emergence of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs): An integrative model and research agenda. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 182, 121806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121806 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121806
Silvestrini, G. (2010). Rousseau, Pufendorf and the eighteenth-century natural law tradition. History of European Ideas, 36(3), 280–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.histeuroideas.2010.02.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.histeuroideas.2010.02.003
Skocpol, T., Ganz, M., & Munson, Z. (2000). A nation of organizers: The institutional origins of civic voluntarism in the United States. American Political Science Review, 94(3), 527–546. https://doi.org/10.2307/2585829 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2585829
Smith, L. (2012). Re-imagining the trust: Trusts in civil law (p. 157). Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511894879
South Dakota Legislature. (2021). South Dakota Codified Laws on Trusts, SDCL tit. 55. Retrieved from https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/Codified_Laws/
Taylor, C. (2015). Hegel and modern society. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316286630
Vos, J., Lemmen, C., & Beentjes, B. (2017). Blockchain-based land administration: Feasible, illusory or panacea? In 18th Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2017: Responsible Land Governance: Towards an Evidence Based Approach. The World Bank. Retrieved from: https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/287081518/lemmen_blo.pdf
Zaccaria, E. (2019). The nature of the beneficiary’s right under a trust: Proprietary right, purely personal right, or right against a right? Law Quarterly Review, 135, 460. Retrieved from: https://uk.westlaw.com/Document/I79B94910865C11E997B3891CC225DE3D/View/FullText.html
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 DICERE Revista de Derecho y Estudios Internacionales
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This article is published under the Copyright and Licensing terms of this journal.
