01: Introduction to CityDAO & The CityDAO Podcast // Oisin Lyons

Background:

Oisin Lyons is from Ireland & he’s one of the founding citizens of CityDAO. This introduction episode focuses on some of the key issues and topics being discussed around DAO’s & topics within the CityDAO Discord. So what is CityDAO all about? CityDAO is exploring decentralized asset ownership on chain, starting with a piece of land in Wyoming. Each parcel of land is an NFT that can be owned collectively by the DAO collectively or by individuals. It is a DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization, meaning it is managed by the community.

The goal of CityDAO is to be able to buy land all over the US and world. They are starting in Wyoming because of the state’s new 2021 DAO law, which recognizes DAO governance of LLC corporations. Because LLCs can own land, this creates a powerful pathway for decentralized land ownership. If you want to get involved, check out their twitter @CityDAO, and join the Discord! They have lots of interesting discussions happening around DAO structure, land rights and governance, urban planning, and more.

 

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

  • 1:31 In 2019, Oisin was introduced to crypto and learned a lot in the crypto space through forums, discord, and tiktok. He shares the story of how he initially got involved in the project.
  • 2:46 Currently, Oisin is more involved in the operation side of the CityDAO project.
  • 4:48 Oisin provides an answer to the confusion about land ownership if you have CityDAO NFT.
  • 5:39 Eric understands that the CityDAO project is an experiment, a governance project, a long-term focus, and it is not for making a quick profit.
  • 7:45 One of the goals of the project is to have a fair and decentralized approach to voting mechanisms. There are also certain values, benefits, and dividends that a citizen can receive when holding these citizen NFTs.
  • 11:32 Oisin admits that the project wouldn’t gain traction and momentum without a certain amount of speculation.
  • 13:12 The discussion moves to the main goal of the CityDAo project and the buying of the parcel of land in Wyoming, tokenizing it, and bringing it on-chain.
  • 15:25 Eric shares his own perspective on the buying of the piece of land in Wyoming.
  • 17:42 Oisin points out the difference between the governance for the citizen NFTs and the governance for the land NFTs.
  • 20:49 There is a new real estate proposal by Oisin to purchase an apartment complex to provide CityDAO with a revenue generating asset and a real community space that can be used.
  • 23:30 Eric is curious about who is the real estate expert at CityDAO.
  • 24:20 According to Oisin, there’s no need to have a head real estate expert because they have an abundance of real estate experts within the DAO project providing smart opinions.
  • 27:47 Oisin talks about coming together to agree on what direction they should take.

 

Key Points from the Interview:

  1. “CityDAO is ultimately a DAO that is aiming to build a city on the Ethereum blockchain.”
  2. “By bringing that land on chain and by building up the CityDAO, you have a lot more of these people coming in and a lot more people getting interested. And now, as I’ve said, we have a lot of people that are in the DAO, that are experts in all these areas that may not have been there if we decided to take the more slow and structured approach.”

 

Resources Mentioned: