Coinranking
DAO tokens
342 coins #41 Page 7
Trending DAO tokens
| Coins | Price | 24h | |
|---|---|---|---|
| |  Aave AAVE | $ | -3.55%  |
| |  Uniswap UNI | $ | -1.73%  |
| |  Synesis One SNS | $ | +2.98%  |
| |  Mask Network MASK | $ | -2.83%  |
| |  Illuvium ILV | $ | -3.63%  |
Top gainers
| Coins | | | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |  Numbers Protocol NUM | $ | +7.13%  | ||
| |  Maker MKR | $ | +3.83%  | ||
| | Synesis One SNS | $ | +2.98% | ||
| |  Velvet VELVET | $ | +0.61%  | ||
| |  NodeOps NODE | $ | +0.50%  | ||
| All gainers | |||||
What is a DAO token?
A DAO token is an ERC-20 (or equivalent) asset that grants membership, voting power, and/or cash-flow rights in a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation—an on-chain entity run entirely by smart contracts.
Token holders propose and vote on upgrades, budgets, partnerships, or asset allocations; votes are tallied automatically and execution is trust-less.
Treasuries often exceed $1 B (e.g., Uniswap, ENS), making DAO tokens de-facto keys to multi-billion dollar protocols.
Quick Facts
- Purpose: Governance, revenue-share, membership access, or combo (“gov-share”).
- Voting: 1 token = 1 vote (common) or quadratic/delegated (newer DAOs).
- Supply: Fixed, inflationary, or burn-to-vote (e.g., Maker MKR flapper).
- Chains: Ethereum (80 %), but also Polygon, Solana, Cosmos, Stacks.
- Treasury size: Top 20 DAOs manage >$25 B in diversified crypto and stablecoins.
Top DAO Tokens (Live Examples)
| Token | Ticker | DAO / Protocol | 2024 Voting Power Snapshot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uniswap | UNI | Uniswap DAO | Control 1.8 B UNI treasury, fee-switch, v4 hooks. |
| Maker | MKR | MakerDAO | Set DAI stability fee, surplus burn, collateral onboarding. |
| Aave | AAVE | Aave DAO | Risk params, new-market listings, AAVE v3 upgrades. |
| ENS | ENS | ENS DAO | .eth pricing, treasury grants, root multisig members. |
| Compound | COMP | Compound DAO | Interest-rate models, asset listings, reserve factors. |
| Curve | CRV | Curve DAO | Gauge weights (yield bribes), new pools, CRV inflation. |
| Lido | LDO | Lido DAO | Node-operator set, staking fee, dual-governance veto. |
| dYdX | DYDX | dYdX v3 DAO | Trading rewards, treasury spend, v4 chain migration. |
How It Works
- Acquire DAO token on DEX/CEX or earn via liquidity mining.
- Delegate to yourself or a trusted voter (gas-less on Snapshot).
- Create proposal (off-chain temp-check, then on-chain executable).
- Vote — quorum (e.g., 4 % of supply) and approval % thresholds must be met.
- Timelock executes code automatically after delay (12 h – 7 days).
- Treasury spend or parameter change goes live without human sign-off.
Benefits
- Trust-less governance – no board, no CEO, no jurisdiction veto.
- Transparent treasury – every inflow/outflow on-chain, real-time.
- Token holder alignment – voters directly benefit from protocol growth (fee share, burns).
- Rapid innovation – community can ship features faster than corporate red-tape.
- Global membership – permissionless entry, 24/7 voting, borderless capital raises.
Risks & Trade-offs
- Low voter turnout – <10 % participation common; whales can swing outcomes.
- Plutocracy – richest wallets dominate; quadratic voting still game-able via sybil.
- Legal limbo – regulators may class governance tokens as securities (SEC vs. DAOs).
- Smart-contract bugs – malicious or fat-finger proposals can drain treasury (e.g., BadgerDAO hack).
- Token concentration – founders/VCs often hold >20 %, limiting decentralisation.
- Proposal spam – micro-proposals and voter bribery (gauge wars) add noise.
Final Thoughts
DAO tokens are programmable share certificates for open-source networks: hold them and you become a board-member with veto power over a multi-billion dollar balance sheet.
The upside is radical transparency and fast innovation; the downside is voter apathy and regulatory overhang.
Treat them like early-stage equity: research treasury runway, voter participation, and legal structure before aping—and never vote blindly on 4 a.m. Snapshot polls.