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The State of DAO M&A

Published

6 месяцев ago

13 марта, 2025

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In late 2021, two DeFi DAOs — Fei Protocol and Rari Capital — embarked on what was supposed to be a transformative merger. The idea was simple: Fei, with its algorithmic stablecoin, would join forces with Rari, a pioneer in permissionless lending pools, to create a DeFi powerhouse governed by a single DAO. Their communities approved the merger with overwhelming support, and in December, Tribe DAO was born.

Nine months later, it was dead.

The Fei-Rari collapse sent shockwaves through the ecosystem, but it was hardly the only DAO M&A, even in 2021. Gnosis and xDAI (a qualified success), Aragon and Vocdoni (a middling failure), Yearn and Cream/Sushi/Pickle (hard to tell) all came together. Since 2020, more than 65 deals have been executed by DAOs looking to scale, merge or consolidate. Today, the state of DAO M&A is more vibrant than ever.

Traditional M&A has clear playbooks. Corporate boards negotiate deals, investment banks structure financing, and legal teams ensure compliance. But DAOs have been operating in uncharted waters. Governance is chaotic. There’s no CEO to sign off on a deal, and token holders vote, often with unpredictable outcomes. Or they learn about it after the fact, as with Aragon’s community.

As we discovered in writing the State of DAO M&A report: valuations are murky, as DAO tokens fluctuate wildly, making it difficult to price acquisitions fairly or to satisfy token holder expectations, as evidenced in Fei-Rari and in Gnosis-xDAI. Regulation is a landmine. The absence of standards for legally binding DAO transactions prevents potentially valuable agreements from being implemented.

Instead, DAOs are turning to token migrations and swap contracts as workarounds to regulatory uncertainty. Security concerns remain challenging for DAOs, as hacks can erase billions in value overnight. Just ask Fei’s token holders, who had to cover $80 million in the Rari exploit.

And sometimes the «mergers» aren’t mergers at all: Yearn Finance’s advertised mergers with Yearn, PIckle, Cream, SushiSwap, and Akropolis were really a series of loose partnerships that generated significant confusion over governance and responsibilities.

With all that said, we believe that M&A can be a DAO superpower. That is, DAOs can feasibly execute M&As more efficiently and recognize more synergies than any traditional organization. Imagine standardized swap and acquisition contracts, platforms for M&A discovery, or protocol conglomerates that create richer, more integrated on-chain ecosystems.

Despite challenges, DAO M&A is here to stay. If anything, the increasing complexity of Web3 ecosystems makes consolidation inevitable. But, for future deals to succeed, DAOs must rethink how they approach M&A. Better governance alignment is crucial, as DAOs need structured frameworks to align stakeholder incentives and avoid the infighting that doomed Fei-Rari.

More thoughtful valuations are necessary since a token swap is not the same as a cash buyout; valuation models must account for token liquidity, governance power, and future earnings potential. Security must be a top priority, with rigorous smart contract audits and stress tests to prevent both catastrophic exploits. And DAOs must engage with these complex dynamics instead of hand-waving them away — and invest in the infrastructure and partnerships to execute them.

If DAOs can learn from these early experiments, M&A could become a critical tool for building resilient and scalable decentralized organizations.

But we’re not there yet. Merging DAOs isn’t just about putting two treasuries together. It’s about integrating communities, governance structures, and technical systems in ways that enhance — not undermine — the value of these organizations.

The full State of DAO M&A (February 2025) report by DAOstar, Areta, and Emory University is available here.

Business

Crypto Trading Firm Keyrock Buys Luxembourg’s Turing Capital in Asset Management Push

Published

1 час ago

16 сентября, 2025

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Crypto trading firm Keyrock said it’s expanding into asset and wealth management by acquiring Turing Capital, a Luxembourg-registered alternative investment fund manager.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, marks the launch of Keyrock’s Asset and Wealth Management division, a new business unit dedicated to institutional clients and private investors.

Keyrock, founded in Brussels, Belgium and best known for its work in market making, options and OTC trading, said it will fold Turing Capital’s investment strategies and Luxembourg fund management structure into its wider platform. The division will be led by Turing Capital co-founder Jorge Schnura, who joins Keyrock’s executive committee as president of the unit.

The company said the expansion will allow it to provide services across the full lifecycle of digital assets, from liquidity provision to long-term investment strategies. «In the near future, all assets will live onchain,» Schnura said, noting that the merger positions the group to capture opportunities as traditional financial products migrate to blockchain rails.

Keyrock has also applied for regulatory approval under the EU’s crypto framework MiCA through a filing with Liechtenstein’s financial regulator. If approved, the firm plans to offer portfolio management and advisory services, aiming to compete directly with traditional asset managers as well as crypto-native players.

«Today’s launch sets the stage for our longer-term ambition: bringing asset management on-chain in a way that truly meets institutional standards,» Keyrock CSO Juan David Mendieta said in a statement.

Business

Crypto Trading Firm Keyrock Buys Luxembourg’s Turing Capital in Asset Management Push

Published

1 час ago

16 сентября, 2025

admin

Crypto trading firm Keyrock said it’s expanding into asset and wealth management by acquiring Turing Capital, a Luxembourg-registered alternative investment fund manager.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, marks the launch of Keyrock’s Asset and Wealth Management division, a new business unit dedicated to institutional clients and private investors.

Business

Gemini Shares Slide 6%, Extending Post-IPO Slump to 24%

Published

1 час ago

16 сентября, 2025

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Gemini Space Station (GEMI), the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has seen its shares tumble by more than 20% since listing on the Nasdaq last Friday.

The stock is down around 6% on Tuesday, trading at $30.42, and has dropped nearly 24% over the past week. The sharp decline follows an initial surge after the company raised $425 million in its IPO, pricing shares at $28 and valuing the firm at $3.3 billion before trading began.

On its first day, GEMI spiked to $45.89 before closing at $32 — a 14% premium to its offer price. But since hitting that high, shares have plunged more than 34%, erasing most of the early enthusiasm from public market investors.

The broader crypto equity market has remained more stable. Coinbase (COIN), the largest U.S. crypto exchange, is flat over the past week. Robinhood (HOOD), which derives part of its revenue from crypto, is down 3%. Token issuer Circle (CRCL), on the other hand, is up 13% over the same period.

Part of the pressure on Gemini’s stock may stem from its financials. The company posted a $283 million net loss in the first half of 2025, following a $159 million loss in all of 2024. Despite raising fresh capital, the numbers suggest the business is still far from turning a profit.

Compass Point analyst Ed Engel noted that GEMI is currently trading at 26 times its annualized first-half revenue. That multiple — often used to gauge whether a stock is expensive — means investors are paying 26 dollars for every dollar the company is expected to generate in sales this year. For a loss-making company in a volatile sector, that’s a steep price, and could be fueling investor skepticism.