Ntantang DAO Chronicles (Mid-Length)

What is the goal?

"Promote the integration of rural construction and Web3."

This is the core goal of the Nantan DAO. Specifically, it aims to leverage cryptocurrency and Web3 technology to establish a new democratic decision-making process, achieving democratic management and distribution of treasury funds to meet the needs of local infrastructure development and cultural activities. However, there is a significant gap between ideals and reality.

The Nantang DAO currently resembles a rigid transplantation of other DAO models from online to rural areas, failing to closely integrate with the fundamental needs of the countryside. The specific goals set also appear scattered and lack focus.

Democracy is not the democracy of villagers; rural construction is the objective rural construction.

The democracy of the Nantang DAO is merely a small-scale internal democracy, failing to broadly connect and mobilize rural communities. This practice has degenerated into "objectified rural construction," which is led by external entities rather than being a governance model driven by the villagers themselves. Currently, for the entire rural area, the Nantang DAO and its members still largely play the role of outsiders.

The goal is diversified, each fighting their own battle.

"Promoting the integration of rural construction and Web3" is an attractive goal, but it is full of challenges in practice. The establishment of the DAO in Nantang is unknown, and the departure of some core members from Nantang to Chengdu to open new bases has made the divergence of organizational goals increasingly apparent, leading the team into a dilemma of goal misalignment.

Through proposal analysis, it can be seen that community proposals are mainly focused on funding applications and project planning, particularly prominent in the early and late stages. Proposals related to institutional construction are mainly concentrated in December 2024. Subsequently, proposals for new member recruitment gradually increased. Project proposals show a trend of gradually shifting from "rooted locally" in the early stage to "expanding outward."

Community building or commercialization?

The Nantan DAO faces potential conflicts between commercial interests and public interests. Community building has always been a core issue, but members also recognize the economic unsustainability of the existing model. Most members believe that commercialization and community building are not contradictory, but rather explore different directions based on their respective experiences. However, internal goal discrepancies often lead to resource dispersion or even competition.

Incentive and Circulation Experiment - Nantang Bean

On August 20, 2024, Nantang Bean (NT) officially launched on Optimism, with an initial issuance of 10 million tokens. As a community incentive, Nantang Bean serves dual functions of "contribution record" and "voting rights certificate."

Limitations of the Hourly System

The current "contribution record" system exposes issues such as unclear access requirements, a single evaluation standard, and a failed peer review mechanism during the application and assessment process of work points. The "equal pay for equal work" model, which uses work duration as the sole evaluation standard, has obvious limitations.

In the face of these challenges, the Nantang DAO is trying to reform its incentive system internally. Currently, the community is exploring the application for funding on a project basis, with funds being allocated based on the evaluation of project outcomes. Some members have suggested adopting "retrospective incentives," which means that funds will be allocated based on the quality of the outcomes after the tasks are completed.

Let Nantang beans circulate

The community is also considering more circulation scenarios, allowing Nan Tang Dou to play more of a "transaction intermediary" role. The most representative of these is the "New Year Goods Debt and Labor Points Promotion Plan" implemented around the Spring Festival in 2025. Although the system has achieved short-term token circulation, there are obvious flaws in this circulation.

United as One: The Warm New Year's Goods Plan

As the year-end approaches, the cooperatives facing financial shortages are under great pressure. The members of the Nantang DAO and the cooperative members have come together to voluntarily decide to "lend" their Nantang beans to the cooperative to help alleviate the pressure. This action transcends the meaning carried by money itself, showcasing the members' compassion and unity.

Is it decentralized enough?

Unignorable External Forces

In mainland China, the legal status of DAO remains unclear. The Nantang DAO, when issuing Nantang beans, needs to limit its functions to internal governance or local service exchange to avoid other financial attributes and mitigate legal risks. Furthermore, government departments also maintain close scrutiny over DAO activities.

The economic source that is "monopolized"

The funding for Nan Tang DAO mainly comes from Liu Bing personally, and this single source of funding has raised concerns about its financial independence. In addition to Nan Tang DAO, the current salaries of Nan Tang Cooperative employees are also covered by Liu Bing in the form of loans, which faces a monopoly issue to some extent.

Not decentralized enough voting

By March 2025, four core members held over 75% of the Nantang beans, becoming the true "whales" in the community. This uneven distribution of voting rights may affect the degree of decentralization in decision-making.

Voting Mechanism: Balance of Power and Vulnerabilities

The Nantang DAO has gone through three changes in voting mechanisms: "one person, one vote", "weighted voting", and "weighted voting but no single person exceeding 20%". However, the current voting mechanism still has some issues, such as allowing all holders of Nantang beans to participate in governance voting without needing to be formal members of the community. This design may pose risks of centralization.

In the future, the Nantang DAO needs to optimize the voting mechanism design, such as limiting voting qualifications, introducing multi-stage reviews and emergency brake mechanisms, and controlling the distribution of Nantang beans, in order to reduce centralization risks and ensure long-term stability and fair autonomy.