DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation)
Quick Answer
A DAO is an organisation governed by smart contracts and token-holder voting rather than traditional corporate structures, used in some payment protocols for governance.
Full Definition
A DAO is an organisation governed by smart contracts and token-holder voting rather than traditional corporate structures. DAOs manage treasuries, protocol upgrades, and operational decisions through on-chain governance proposals. In the payments context, some payment protocols use DAO governance to set fee structures, approve integrations, and manage protocol parameters.
Related Terms
dApp (Decentralised Application)
A dApp is a software application running on a blockchain rather than a centralised server, including payment widgets that merchants embed to accept crypto directly.
DeFi (Decentralised Finance)
DeFi is the ecosystem of financial applications on blockchain that operate without banks, powering the DEX aggregators and liquidity pools used in crypto payment settlement.
DEX (Decentralised Exchange)
A DEX is a peer-to-peer marketplace for trading crypto directly from wallets without depositing funds with a centralised intermediary.
DEX Aggregator
A DEX aggregator sources liquidity from multiple decentralised exchanges to find the best swap rate, used in payment processing to optimise exchange rates during settlement.
Digital Asset
A digital asset is any asset in digital form with distinct ownership rights on blockchain, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, NFTs, and tokenised real-world assets.