So, I've just recently come to the party concerning the DAO token sale concerning slock.it. If I'm understanding correctly, slock.it primarily produces their "smart lock" product, a lock that can apparently be unlocked via blockchain. Now, with no salt, I think this is a great idea, but it seems like this could be solved by too many existing technologies (paying for an otp to be sent to your device to use as an unlock code for example). Which leads me to the other side of this virtual coin , the DAO.
Now, the overarching concept is just fucking grand. The idea of blockchain demonstrable shareholder voting and asset transfer sans exchange makes me hard a bit. But, the profit generation scheme to me seems to be non existent. So, this ridiculous amount of money is going to be invested into various startups , which is cool, but at the moment there isn't really that much innovation in the space that brings value to the consumer, that is, providing a new service, or an existing service more efficiently. I also have concerns about the voting aspect. As we have seen with countless other systems of share based voting, there will be x individuals (x is usually equal to ten or less) that control the majority of the votes and subsequently, will have their wills exercised in the voting process. The "corporate voting for the people" warm fuzzy feeling that comes with this kind of dies with that revelation. What happens when factions form and there is dissent among the top share holders (kinda like the block size issue here at home)?
This brings about the issue of governance. The majority can not be trusted to simply "select" winning investments because the public is not an expert. A million uneducated opinions does not a cogent decision make. Democracy is cool, but you will notice the most popular money making assets are not governed in this way (see Google and Apple). Sure, you may have a grip of shares, but you never have as many as the founder or the company principles, which is the point. It's their million dollar baby. So they will coddle it, and feed it until it can walk on its own or falls on its face.
So, I may invest in this because like everything in this sphere, people are chomping at the bits to throw money at it, and beyond the shadow of a doubt the price will increase before it decreases. With that being said, I dont have confidence in this asset long term as I fail to see a clearly defined plan of profit, and this asset is entirely too overhyped, which I think will cause unnecessary volatilty. What do you guys think? No one line cheerleading responses please, and no basement dwelling trolls. Am I being too pessimistic in my appraisal of the voting process? Do you think there will be projects worth even funding (slock.it would not get my money if it was an exchange traded stock).
I'm all ears