Welcome to another Decentralization Research Center Newsletter.

With this monthly briefing, you’ll stay updated on events and research relevant to decentralization, DAOs and governance.

If you’re working on related research or would like to get involved in our work, please reach out to us via info@thedrcenter.org. We’d love to hear from you!

Connor Spelliscy
Executive Director
Decentralization Research Center

Attend

🇺🇸 2024 Equitable Tech Summit — we’ll be co-hosting the summit on June 6th at the National Press Club in D.C., along with the Blockchain Association and Metagov. If you’d like to attend, please apply here.

• The Equitable Tech Summit will highlight the need for equitable ownership and governance of these technologies, and how to mitigate the risk of repeating the same mistakes we made with Web 2.0. 

• The summit will bring together 100 leading policymakers, regulators, academics, and industry experts to discuss solutions, build relationships, and align on steps forward.

See here for early details and reach out to [email protected] if you have questions.

Other events to attend 👇️ 

• Plurality Book Launch w/ Glen Weyl + Unconference — Glen Weyl, Audrey Tang and 500+ other collaborators are writing a book about Plurality and the future of collaborative technology and democracy. Come hear Glen share highlights from the book and connect with the broader Plurality community at the Hillside School in Berkeley.

• Governable Spaces Book Launch — Why does governance in our everyday online spaces matter? In this online launch event, Nathan Schneider introduces his new book, which will be available free and open access from University of California Press on February 27.

• Metagov Project Features: On and Off Responsibilities in Governing AI — The series will be led by Metagov community participant, Harvard Fellow, and Responsible AI Institute Research Scientist, Manon Revel, and is conducted in collaboration with the Responsible AI Institute.

🇯🇵 Hosting DAO UTokyo on February 6-7 was an incredible experience, thank you to all who made this possible.

For a recap on our 2023 summits see links here: Harvard Summit on Equitable Ownership & Governance, DAO Stanford, and Canadian Emerging Tech & Policy Summit at the University of Toronto.

Read

A report by BlockchainGov and the Project Liberty Institute comparing governance mechanisms and dynamics across 11 major blockchain networks including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos, and Optimism.

Interim Report on Blockchain Governance Practices (paper). Co-authors include DRC Fellows and community, including Kelsie Nabben, Sarah Roth-Gaudette, Eric Alston, Sheila Warren, Primavera de Filippi, Morshed Mannan, Tara Merk, et al.

Other key work featuring DRC Fellows and community:

• Plural Management [SSRN] (paper, thread). Co-authored by Shrey Jain, Scott Moore, Tobin South, et al.

• A Roadmap for Governing AI: Technology Governance and Power Sharing Liberalism [Harvard Kennedy School] (paper). Co-authored by Danielle Allen, Sarah Hubbard, Shlomit Wagman, et al.

• Unpacking How Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) Work in Practice [arXiv] (paper). Co-authored by Tanusree Sharma, Dawn Song, et al.

Listen

🎙️ We’re proud to debut our new podcast, Techquitable, with a conversation with former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo on emerging tech & policy (Spotify).

Hosted by Connor Spelliscy and Tony Douglas Jr. of the Decentralization Research Center, this podcast will host a diverse array of voices — from researchers and policy makers to forward-thinking entrepreneurs and industry leaders — to keep you informed on the latest findings and research surrounding decentralization, governance and emerging technologies.

🎙️ The Tech We Need for the 21st Century Democracy with Divya Siddarth — Collective Intelligence Project founder Divya Siddarth and Humane Tech explore how new kinds of governance can be supported through better technology.

Collaborate

We’re growing and looking to hire a Communications Manager (JD) — please share with anyone who you think might be qualified!

See you next month.

The DRC Team