I’m really interested in this project, however, I don’t really understand how it works. I am familiar with web3, DAOs, etc., but how does the ERC smart contract actually interact with German law? And who is the legal owner of the forest? Is it the Autonomous Forest Verein? So, under German law, wouldn’t the members also be the owners? And if so, how is it legally possible for them to delegate their decision making power to an anonymous collective of NFT holders?
Hi mycelia,
thanks for the questions. A brief summary of the structure can be found here:
there are also the statutes:
Let me try to answer the questions:
1.) The legal owner of the forest is Autonomous Forest (the Verein)
2.) Members are not owners, since this is not a corporate structure, but a Verein. Members have membership rights, not ownership shares. Think of it this way: even if you are a member of the ADAC (the German Automobile Club), you don’t individually own a share of the club’s property. It’s not a “corporate structure” with shareholders.
3.) Decision-making is delegated because the Governance Token owners (e.g. staked NFT owners) are members of the Community Council (the German equivalent of which is ‘Beirat’), which, in Web3 terms, is the DAO. This structure allows people to be identified by their eth addresses and vote, in contrast to regular membership. (It should also be noted that technical ETH is not anonymous.) The Board is then obliged by statute to execute the decisions of the Community Council, provided they do not conflict with the statutes themselves.
If you have more questions i’m happy to go into more details!
Hi Celia. I’m not a team member or anything, but am happy to recommend a couple of sources that really helped me get a good understanding that complement Paul’s response nicely. If you’re on X (Twitter) there’s a great Space that @sssluke1 (X handle) hosted with the founders and various participants / contributors to the protocol art movement. Careful of links pls and don’t feel obliged to use but for easy access https://x.com/__proper/status/1998850395867852939 You can find it easily but visiting Luke’s handle on X and scrolling through his timeline. Took place on the 11th Dec.
Le Random also just published an interview with the founders about the project as a podcast. Released today and easy to find on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Youtube etc.
