A project of the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation

   

A project of the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation

Book Launch: Foundations of Decentralized Organizations (Oxford University Press)

Jan 26, 2026

Book Launch: Foundations of Decentralized Organizations (Oxford University Press)

 

Wharton BDAP Director Kevin Werbach and BDAP Senior Fellow Bianca Kremer have co-edited together with Eva Micheler, LSE a new Oxford University Press volume, Foundations of Decentralized Organizations: Blockchain and the Future of Corporate Law. The book brings corporate law and blockchain scholarship into direct conversation about what DAOs actually are in practice: not purely “code-run” collectives, but evolving institutions that must operate across legal systems, markets, and communities.

 

Building on BDAP’s DAO research and events

The volume builds on BDAP’s work on DAO governance and policy—particularly BDAP’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum on the WEF/Wharton BDAP DAO Beyond the Hype White Paper and the DAO Toolkit, which offers frameworks and recommendations for engaging with DAO operations, governance, and legal aspects.

It also reflects insights surfaced through BDAP’s London convenings with LSE, which brought together DAO operators, practitioners, and scholars to test how corporate law concepts (and limits) show up in real-world DAO structuring and disputes.

More information about the edited volume can be found here.

 

Part I – DAOs as an Innovation in Corporate Form

  • 1. Nina Reiser (University of St. Gallen) — DAO Legal Forms Around the World

  • 2. Shawn Bayern (Florida State University College of Law) — Are Bespoke DAO Forms Needed in Organizational Law?

  • 3. Michael Schillig (University of Leipzig; formerly King’s College London) — DAOs and the History of Corporate Law

Part II – DAO Governance

  • 4. Jill E. Fisch (University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School) — DAOs and Corporate Governance

  • 5. Morshed Mannan (University of Edinburgh) & Primavera De Filippi (CNRS; Berkman Klein Center, Harvard) — The Fiduciary Duties of Network Participants of Blockchain Systems

  • 6. Daniela Gandorfer (University of Westminster) & Eva Micheler (London School of Economics) — DAOs: The Theory of the Firm and Ostromian Perspectives

  • 7. Darcy W.E. Allen (RMIT University), Chris Berg (RMIT University), Aaron M. Lane (RMIT University) & Jason Potts (RMIT University)   — DAOs are Adaptive Governance Engines

Part III – Legal Considerations

  • 8. Kara Bruce (UNC School of Law), Christopher K. Odinet (Texas A&M University School of Law) &  Andrea Tosato (SMU Dedman School of Law) — DAOs in Financial Distress

  • 9. Florence Guillaume (University of Neuchâtel) — Choice of Court Agreements in Disputes Involving DAOs

  • 10. Bianca Kremer (Wharton BDAP, ZIBR, MME) — Code, Community, and Conflict: DAO Disputes

  • 11. Nizan Geslevich Packin (Baruch College, CUNY – Zicklin School of Business) & Anat Alon-Beck (Case Western Reserve University School of Law) — DAOs for Collective Investment: An Emerging Paradigm

  • 12. Iris H-Y Chiu (University College London, Faculty of Laws) — Regulating Decentralized Finance: How Financial Regulation Sheds Light on Governing DAOs

Part IV – The Future of DAOs

  • 13. Jason Grant Allen (Singapore Management University, Yong Pung How School of Law)  & Peter Hunn (DocuSign) — The Law of Digital Organizations: A Prospective 

  • 14. Edmund Schuster (London School of Economics) & Kelvin F.K. Low (University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law) — What Do DAOs Really Contribute?

  • 15. Kevin Werbach (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania) — Out of Control: DAOs, AI and the Question of Autonomy