TY - JOUR AU - Schuppli, Benedikt AU - Jafari, Golnaz A. PY - 2021 DA - 2021// TI - Piercing the Digital Veil: A Case Study for a DAO Legal Framework under Swiss Law JO - JIPITEC SP - 331 EP - 346 VL - 12 IS - 4 AB - Blockchain technology is associated with the emergence of decentralised applications such as smart contracts and Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAO) as self-governing and software-based agents. The concept of a blockchain-based peer-to-peer vending machine serving both as a testing ground for the design of a marketplace for physical goods and a speculative artefact has been posited and analysed from an economic perspective by a group of scholars at the Center for Innovative Finance of the University of Basel, Switzerland. Building on this particular case study, this paper provides for a legal analysis under Swiss law. In Part 1, the economic analysis of the initiative is briefly described. In Part 2, the proposed concept is analysed from a de lege lata perspective, taking into account foremost liability questions both from Swiss private law (tort and contractual) and public law (criminal and tax law) perspectives, by building on literature and applicable case law. For this, the authors propose a hypothetical scenario upon which a legal analysis is applied. As a result of the analysis, a conclusion is drawn highlighting the status quo in Swiss legal framework, whereby the authors argue in favour of a possible reform for the purpose of enhancing legal certainty. In Part 3, the authors then examine, from a de lege ferenda perspective, the question of whether the Swiss legislative body would require introducing a bespoke legal framework for DAOs. For this, a reference is made to relevant foreign legislation such as the State of Wyoming DAO Bill without essentially taking a comparative approach. SN - 2190-3387 UR - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0009-29-54043 ID - schuppli2021 ER -