DAO Maker (DAO): tokenomics, risks and score
A launchpad offering a partial refund mechanism on some sales, and which suffered a significant exploit of its staking contracts in 2021.
What DAO Maker is, and what it does
This is a DeFi protocol. It provides a financial service such as trading, lending or derivatives through smart contracts rather than through a company, so there is no account to open and no one to approve you.
What the DAO token itself does: It can be staked to earn rewards, though a large part of those rewards is newly issued token rather than earned revenue.
Where it runs: Multi chain. Mechanism: Launchpad with a refund mechanism. It has been running since 2020, so roughly 6 years.
The facts
- TICKER
- DAO
- SECTOR
- DeFi
- CHAIN
- Multi chain
- LAUNCHED
- 2020, so around 6 years of operating history
- MECHANISM
- Launchpad with a refund mechanism
- MAXIMUM SUPPLY
- 270 million
- VALUE CAPTURE
- Staking only
- UPGRADE CONTROL
- Team controlled
- VESTING
- Complete
- LIQUIDITY BAND
- Micro cap. Thin, often a single venue or pool. Treat the quoted price as indicative only.
How the score breaks down
Each dimension is explained on the directory page, and the reasoning behind it is taught in the Academy research process.
Supply and value capture
A hard maximum supply that cannot be raised without the agreement of essentially every participant. Holders can stake to earn rewards, though much of that reward is newly issued rather than earned revenue.
The founding team retains control over upgrades or parameters. Ownership is moderately concentrated. A handful of large holders could move the market.
Where it is strong and where it is not
- Has operated for around 6 years and through at least one full bear market
- Supply is capped, so holders are not diluted indefinitely
- Audited, with published reports
- Fully open source, so the code can be independently reviewed
- Upgrade control sits with a small group, so the rules can change
- Thin liquidity. Check order book depth before assuming you can exit
- Has 1 recorded incident on its history
Incident history
Its staking pools were exploited for roughly seven million dollars of user funds through a compromised administrative function.
Our read
The main risk
A prior exploit of user funds through weak administrative controls, in a declining category.
Before you buy anything
Check the contract address against the project's own documentation rather than a search result or a screener link, since impersonation tokens with identical names and logos are listed constantly. Check the order book depth before assuming you can exit at the quoted price. And write down what would make you wrong before you buy, not after. The Academy thesis module covers why that single habit protects more capital than any indicator.