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no1s1

Project state

closed

Project start

December 2021

Funding duration

30 months

Universities involved

UZH, ZHAW

Practice partners

Dezentrum

Funding amount DIZH

CHF 185'000

A house owned by no one but itself

In 2019, the think tank Dezentrum developed the concept of No1s1 (read as “no one’s one”), which aims to become the first house that belongs to itself and decides how it is used. With the help of blockchain-based smart contracts, No1s1 will be able to manage itself with the help of a community of users. In this way, No1s1 acts as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which, in contrast to most existing DAOs that operate exclusively in digital environments, makes a concrete physical space the object of participation and community. In the project, we investigated this DAO, which is based on blockchain technology, from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to support practitioners in the design and implementation of DAOs. For the first time, a DAO that owns physical (and not just digital) assets in the form of a house was examined.

Learn more about no1s1

The legal, technical, economic, and organizational aspects were analyzed and developed. It was demonstrated that the No1s1 project presents an interesting opportunity to use living space collectively and manage it through a community. The concept as a DAO allows for the creation of various incentives and enables collective decision-making. Blockchain-based tokens can be used to incentivize users to perform certain maintenance tasks and, depending on their level of participation, to have a say in the future of the house.

Key factors for community-based management include a shared purpose, flexible membership, decentralized organization, and broadly supported decision-making. Blockchain technology provides the technological foundation for such a system to manage real estate through a DAO. From a legal perspective, certain adjustments to Swiss legislation are recommended for the management of real estate through DAOs. Some U.S. states, which have already adapted their corporate laws with DAO-specific regulations, can serve as role models.

The project resulted in the following concrete outcomes:

  • Legal assessment and policy recommendations for users and legislators regarding DAOs in the real estate sector.
  • Theoretical analysis of DAOs for collaborative housing.
  • Organizational design concept for DAOs with physical assets.
  • Tested and implemented management concept for No1s1 (tested on a prototype from ETH Zurich & governance system implementation open-source: GitLab repository).
  • Simulation of different community participants for the governance of No1s1.

Academic publications

  • Blum, M., Crimi, N., Emmenegger, P., Spychiger F., & Tessone, C. J. (2024). Governance and maintenance for DAOs with physical assets – the case of No1s1. Blockchain: Research and Application 
  • Lustenberger, M., Spychiger, F., Küng, L., & Martignoni, J. (2024). DAOs as Property Owners: A Conceptual Exploration from the Perspective of Organizational System Theory, Journal of Organization Design. 
  • Lustenberger, M., Wollenschläger., S., & Küng, L. (2024). DAO as Digital Governance Tool for Collaborative Housing. International Journal of Housing Policy 
  • Spychiger, F., Kaur Makode, P., Küng, L., & & Tessone, C. J. (2024). Governance and Maintenance for a DAO with Physical Assets – An Agent-based Model. 2024 IEEE International Conference on Omni-layer Intelligent Systems (COINS), London, United Kingdom, 2024, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/COINS61597.2024.10622115.
  • Pasquier, B. & Bärtschi H. (2024). Dezentrale autonome Organisationen für Immobilien. Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht (GesKR). S. 200–217 (https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/31086).

Public appearances

  • August 2024. Simulation of a DAO by the example of No1s1, DRC DAO Workshop, Invited talk, New York (US)
  • April 2023: “No1s1 – A house that belongs to no one but itself“, Ethereum Zuri Conference, Invited talk, Zurich (CH)
  • November 2022: “Short presentation of No1s1“, DAO Symposium, Invited talk, Zurich (CH)
  • March 2022: “Das Haus, das sich selbst verwaltet“, SRF Digital Podcast, Invited talk, Zurich (CH) (https://www.srf.ch/news/panorama/blockchain-und-iot-das-haus-das-sich-selbst-verwaltet)
  • March 2022:  “A house owned by no one but itself”, DIZH, Invited talk, Zurich (CH) (https://dizh.ch/2022/01/03/no1s1/)

Team

Prof. Dr. Claudio Tessone, UZH Blockchain Center

Prof. Dr. Franz Röösli, ZHAW School of Management and Law, Institute for Organizational Viability

Dr. Bruno Pasquier, ZHAW School of Management and Law, Zentrum für Unternehmens- und Steuerrecht

Florian Spychiger, ZHAW School of Management and Law, Institute for Organizational Viability / UZH Blockchain Center

Academic Collaborator

Hongyang Wang, ETH Zürich Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

Prof. Dr. Daniel Hall, ETH Zürich Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

Practice partner

Dezentrum

Call type: 1. Project Call

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