#79: DAO Services in the Cayman Islands with Karel Olivier from Lemma

One school of thought argues that DAOs should avoid any legal structure and remain unregistered in all jurisdictions.

But having a legal entity allows the DAO to engage in contracts with other real-world entities, and perhaps the biggest of all,

A legal entity protects the individual participants of a DAO from unlimited liability.

One structure that has gained popularity is the Cayman Islands Foundation structure.

This facilitates opening bank accounts, exchange accounts, or dealing with vendors and market makers for the DAO.

Now while this setup doesn't need shareholders, it does require local directors, a Supervisor, a Secretary, and a DAO Administrator.

On Episode 79, I spoke with Karel Olivier, Lemma’s CEO & Co-Founder, to discuss their range of DAO Administrator services for DAOs in the Cayman Islands.

Some of the DAOs that Lemma works with include SuperRare, Balancer, ENS, Gitcoin, Ethena, and more.

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Topics Covered;

(0:00) Coming Up

(0:50) Episode intro

(2:55) Why Cayman Islands & incorporation set up

(5:43) Roles of directors, secretary, supervisor & DAO administrator

(8:27) DAO operator v/s DAO administrator

(9:36) Should director & DAO operator be the same person

(12:30) Role of supervisor with governance

(15:23) Join the next cohort of the Crypto Accounting Academy

(18:11) Pre-TGE, TGE & Post-TGE

(25:11) Highlights of the 2024 amended VASP Act

(27:28) Paragraph 8b on vested interest for directors

(30:08) Governance process for DAOs & tools

(33:59) ENS governance process

(35:37) Thanks to our sponsor Request Finance

(37:18) Opening a bank account & crypto-friendly banks

(39:48) Other important service providers

(42:15) Common mistakes around grants program

(52:36) Lemma services for pre-TGE, TGE, post-TGE

(56:04) Story behind Lemma’s name

(57:55) Filing requirements for DAO foundations

(59:45) Financial reporting of DAO to the community

(1:02:15) Closing thoughts

(1:04:03) Does Lemma work with other jurisdictions

(1:05:47) Karel’s favorite quote

(1:07:32) Reach out to Karel