Even in the typically eyebrow-raising world of cryptocurrency, the BuyTheBroncos DAO stands out.
As the name suggests, this loose collective of blockchain enthusiasts is setting out to buy the Denver Broncos — and they’re hoping to raise $4 billion worth of crypto to make it happen. That’s according to CNBC, which spoke with one of the organizers behind the Herculean effort.
“We know it sounds a bit crazy, but it’s also a bit badass,” said Sean O’Brien, who CNBC describes as “one of the people spearheading the cause.” O’Brien continued: “The purpose essentially is to establish an infrastructure so that fans from all walks of life can be owners of the Denver Broncos.”
Decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, are essentially collaborative efforts built on the blockchain with a stated purpose and rules that anyone can join. The SpiceDAO, and its hilarious $3.8 million purchase of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune adaptation in book form, is perhaps the most notable recent example of DAOs making unintended waves.
Before that, ConstitutionDAO tried to buy a copy of the Constitution. That didn’t exactly work out, either.
But where those projects failed, BuyTheBroncos DAO hopes to succeed.
“DAOs have already responsibly and transparently raised billions of dollars, they allow for all people to participate, and provide the flexibility necessary to meet the rigorous ‘barriers to entry’ established by the NFL,” explains the project’s website. (There is already, of course, a fan-owned team in the NFL: the Green Bay Packers.)
Coming on the heels of ETHDenver, a web3 and Ethereum conference which just wrapped up in Colorado’s capital city, the BuyTheBroncos DAO appears designed to grab the city and cryptocurrency community’s attention — if not its ether. The project’s barebones website seems relatively light on details, and with a pending Broncos sale on the horizon, the BuyTheBroncos DAO would have to act faster than, well, a bronco.
In some respects, this sort of outlandish project is exactly what DAOs were made for. Because they decidedly are not, as the aftermath of the failed ConstitutionDAO made clear, made for smoothly issuing refunds when everything goes to hell.