Terra’s DAO Platform Is Open for Business
The company behind the Terra stablecoin is hoping DAOs will build on the Terra blockchain — which lost billions in a few days earlier this year
Terra founder Do Kwon | Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel
Terra founder Do Kwon is still wanted by Interpol, but the team behind the protocol’s stablecoin has launched a platform for building DAOs on its blockchain.
Terraform Labs built Enterprise, a “no-code” solution for DAOs looking to build on Terra. The new product illustrates that Terraform Labs believes Terra — irrespective of its missing-in-action founder — is worth building on, rather than rebranding or even sunsetting the project. But demand remains to be seen.
Enterprise was one of the first pieces of so-called Terra 2.0 — the blockchain’s attempted comeback after Terra’s native token LUNA death spiraled, torpedoing $30 billion in value in May.
Enterprise provides the raw digital material for DAO creation, allowing users to create multi-signature wallets, new tokens or NFT communities on Terra’s blockchain with a couple clicks.
A source close to the matter confirmed Kwon was involved with Enterprise’s creation in an advisory role.
Nick Almond, protocol lead at fellow DAO builder FactoryDAO, told Blockworks the setup, really, is not purely a DAO, but “DAOs 1.0 or 0.8.”
Though Terra flirted with catastrophe, largely due to technological shortcomings, Almond doesn’t see much to criticize when it comes to the new product’s backbone.
“Investing in the whole application layer around DAOs — that’s what’s going to convince people to set up shop on their blockchain,” Almond said. “So, in a sense, [Terra is] somewhat ahead of a lot of the other [layer-1s].
But it’s unclear if a significant number of DAOs are ready to entrust their wallets, NFTs and tokens to Terra again.
“What blockchain you set your DAO upon is like what city you set your home upon. Why would you build it on Terra?” Almond said.
“Enterprise offers developers and our community value. They can trust what is being built because they can inspect the open-source code for the project themselves,” a spokesperson for Terra told Blockworks.
As of Monday afternoon in New York, Enterprise’s beta version housed seven DAOs and just a handful of users. The price of LUNA — the Terra 2.0 iteration launched in late May — actually fell somewhat on the news, finishing down 5% on Monday.
In crypto, attention often begets economic benefit, and Terra is nothing if not notable. Do Kwon still has more than a million Twitter followers. LUNA still has nearly $200 million in market cap. Almond said Terraform Labs may be hoping whatever is left of its once-formidable community will buy into whatever it does next.
Following FTX’s bankruptcy, Terraform Labs appears to be doing some brand rehabilitation. Earlier this month, Terra posted an audit report showing none of its funds were misallocated in the leadup to its May snafu. The post ends with a quote from Kwon, seemingly saying Terra’s fall from grace was more respectable than that of FTX, which misused customer funds.
FTX’s chances of operating an exchange in the near future appear slim to none. But Terra — which lost billions of dollars in a matter of days — is still building.
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