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- MotorDAO will offer racing helmet NFTs to owners
- DAOs share influence, risk and rewards
- Project backed by motorsport and Web3 experts
MotorDAO, a new decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO), will offer motorsport fans and online communities the chance to finance teams, drivers, and events using non-fungible token (NFT) based memberships.
The venture has been launched by Chris Lencheski, a former Nascar team owner and current chief executive of advisory firm Phoenicia Sport and Entertainment, and Adrian Maurer, the co-founder and chief executive of Web3 content management platform Kubelt.
They say their aim is to democratise participation at the highest level of international motorsport, including open wheel, stock cars and motorcycle racing.
DAOs use smart contracts powered by a set of rules to allow collectives, rather than an individual or a centralised body of authority, to make decisions. The rules and any actions taken are recorded and verified with blockchain technology, providing a high degree of visibility.
Although there are few examples of DAOs currently within the sports industry, many believe they can offer a more transparent and fair form of governance for teams and federations that currently subscribe to hierarchical models.
In theory, everyone involved has the same amount of influence, the same exposure to risk, and the same entitlement to any profits the DAO makes.
“[A] DAO’s very nature requires something decentralised to support so racing, whether its F1, Nascar, IndyCar, MotoGP, etc., as well as tennis, golf, boxing, MMA for that matter are globally decentralised sporting platforms allowing teams, drivers, and participants to operate across multiple series or disciplines,” said Lencheski.
“We believe this DAO can provide a mezzanine financing mechanism for deserving drivers and teams to compete at the highest levels in their chosen series and with the people and companies involved with MotorDAO being best-in-class, collectively, we could not be more aligned with the global Web3 and crypto communities.”
Specifically, MotorDAO will allow its members to determine which teams and drivers receive financial backing. Membership also provides access to the ‘perks’ of team ownership through access to pit lanes, exclusive events, and ticket packages.
The first tranche of memberships will be limited edition ‘founder’ memberships that provide governance rights to the DAO and offer the most access to perks. Each membership will take the form of a racing helmet NFT and once all have been sold, will receive a custom livery. Owners can order a physical helmet model and use it across various metaverse applications using Kubelt’s technology.
Subsequent membership tiers will be introduced in the future, while active members of the DAO’s online community will receive exclusive perks. The partners say the first step will be to announce its first commercial rights or team acquisition and young driver sponsorships, the latter of which is now open for nominations.
“MotorDAO represents the intersection of loyal motorsports fans with a highly engaged NFT and Web3 audience,” added Maurer. “We will be the first DAO to hit the market with a fully operational business and platform from day one. I’m excited to see MotorDAO become the model for building highly engaging DAO experiences that welcome the next wave of people to Web3.”