Want to flip burgers instead of coins this crypto winter? FriesDAO certainly does.
The cryptocurrency group plans to start a fast food franchise following ConstitutionDAO's "Let's buy (and rule) a real-world asset with crowdfunding tokens" playbook.
On Saturday, the self-proclaimed Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) will launch a $9,7 million fundraising campaign. In exchange for the Ethereum-based USDC, benefactors will receive token voting rights on what the FriesDAO restaurant chain buys.
“You are going to have voting rights that will influence the decision-making on acquiring a fast food restaurant,” Bill Lee, an advisor to the project, told CoinDesk.
See also: US Constitution for sale? ConstitutionDAO makes bold moves
One thing token holders won't get is ownership rights to the FriesDAO franchise, a share of its profits, or the last word in its business, at least not initially.
It is simply an Ethereum-based membership currency, with an influencer side.
These are the realities of US securities laws, project officials say.
"It would be beautiful and wonderful for us to be able to sit down and say that this token represents direct ownership in a Subway, in a Wendy's," said key project collaborator Brett Beller, who co-founded alcohol delivery startup Drizly. "You can't do that because of the way the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has laid it out."
FriesDAO, which has not yet been decentralized and is not yet self-sufficient, cannot treat its token-holding inhabitants as trading partners with a stake. That would be like starting a grease fire in the SEC cafeteria, and Gary Gensler, the agency's chairman, doesn't like grease fires.
Bridging the gap with business
FriesDAO is also pragmatic when it comes to presenting a "DAO" to brands. Showing up at McDonald's headquarters with 10.000 coins from the crowd of Internet friends probably won't work. "DAOs are still too 'exotic' to serve as a true trading partner," Lee said.
"We're going to need some kind of outside organization or contract organization to acquire the fast food outlets for us and therefore make it legally binding," he said.
When asked why FriesDAO wanted to buy a franchise, rather than launch a new restaurant, Beller cited the pervasive influence of mega-brands. “They give you the business back in a box,” he said, adding that franchises are the “simplest possible situation” to showcase crypto governance.
FriesDAO could be best understood as an early stage, albeit slightly watered down, proof of concept of what DAO maximalists are after: to make on-chain governance a real reality. It is a standardizing force in a world awakening to the powers and dangers of crypto.
“We believe that when a company starts a business, they should sit down and look at a set of tools, a B Corp, a C Corp, an LLC, a DAO,” and choose the one that best suits their needs. He cited "individual creators" as a particularly well-placed group to use DAOism.
In this model, membership tokens serve as a kind of social currency. By rallying contributors around a common idea (but not a business, and certainly not one with the expectation of future profits), FriesDAO is able to find the "right staff very quickly," Lee said.
growing community
FriesDAO's Discord channel had 4.425 "crew members" as of Thursday night, and among them were three "general managers," two "assistant managers," and seven "shift managers." Contestants occasionally posted the Golden Arches meme and offered their services in a "I want to help" channel.
“Letittie (🍟,🍟),” a Discord member who said she planned to donate, told CoinDesk in a chat that she was captivated by the “innovative” way FriesDAO was looking to combine “decentralized governance” with business management. "She'll have to prove herself, of course," he said.
Other users said that FriesDAO's transparent leadership (Lee and Beller threw their real identities behind the project) had the expertise to accomplish the project's goals. (In fact, Beller, who said he's already started conversations with potential partners, credited her experience in the industry for helping open doors.)
A handful cited the potential for crunchy token wealth, memes (“we like potato chips,” said one), integration of crypto and lunar missions, as well as strong leadership.
“I don't think these guys are going to run away with our cash,” Beansthe3rd told CoinDesk, “but the idea of a token focused on owning fast food franchises is pretty hilarious.”