Obermeier, DanielKimelman, Ari2025-09-172025-09-172025-01-23http://hdl.handle.net/10362/187992Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) offer a new method of governance that relies on a blockchain's transparent, decentralized, and programmable qualities (Tan et al. 2024). Previous research on DAOs found low participation rates in voting and a high level of inequality and centralization (Tan et al. 2024). A longitudinal analysis of DAO proposals was performed to determine if DAOs become progressively decentralized over time. The Gini and Nakamoto coefficients were calculated for 33 DAOs, and it was found that DAOs typically remained highly centralized and unequal and grew more centralized regardless of the type of decentralized application (dApp) the DAO governed.engDAODecentralized Autonomous OrganizationsdApp governanceOn-chain governancemaster thesis203962656