A Political History of DAOs

The Cypherpunks used their mailing list to document various attempts at building an electronic coin network. This included “e-gold,” in 1996; an anti-spam proof-of-work algorithm called Hashcash by Adam Back; an anonymous proof-of-stake electronic cash network in 1998; and Bit Gold, a proof-of-work string of cryptographic hashes by Nick Szabo in 20... See more

Public key cryptography, or the use of encryption to secure information against unwanted access by third parties, was discovered in 1973. Research on and access to encryption technologies were highly embargoed.

So, pursued the development of decentralized, cryptographically secure digital infrastructure.

Engineer Paul Baran made a number of breakthroughs that are relevant to the public, decentralized technologies to this day, including “message blocks” (a component in blockchain technology) and advocacy for private digital networks via cryptography.

FROM CYPHERPUNKS TO WEB3:

“Instead of a hierarchical structure managed by a set of humans interacting in person and controlling property via the legal system, a decentralized organization involves a set of humans interacting with each other according to a protocol specified in code, and enforced on the blockchain,” Buterin wrote in 2014.

FROM CRYPTOGRAPHERS TO CYPHERPUNKS (1990S - 2008):

Digital encryption is a fundamentally political security technology, and a site of struggle for privacy, freedom, and democracy that scholar Linda Monsees has termed “Crypto Politics.”

In 2009, Cypherpunk Hal Finney became the first person to transact Bitcoin as well as the first maintainer of the Bitcoin software code base.