Blockchain Governance

Catalog description

This course offers an overview of blockchain governance and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), with topics including DAO tooling, on-chain and off-chain voting, delegation, constitutional design, alternative governance mechanisms, identity, and privacy. We will cover these topics and others from technical, social science, and legal perspectives, and we will include a range of guests from the web3 space as well as several speakers who are on the frontiers of DAO research. The course presumes some basic familiarity with blockchain and cryptocurrencies, but deep technical facility is not required, i.e., successful completion of CS 251 or LAW 1043 is more than enough. Elements used in grading: Homework and papers. There are no examinations. Grading elements and the course itself are designed so that students with diverse expertise and backgrounds (law, technical, business, etc.) have an equal opportunity to do well and have a powerful learning experience. Cross-listed with LAW 1078. The course will be taught in law school classrooms. In addition to the listed Stanford faculty instructors and the various guest speakers, Silke Noa Elrifai, a crypto lawyer and mathematician with a deep background in actual DAO projects and currently a Visiting Scholar at Stanford, will be the primary instructor for several classes and will play an integral role in the course.