{"id":24873,"date":"2026-04-02T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/alabama-grants-legal-status-to-daos-under-duna-act\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T08:00:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T08:00:35","slug":"alabama-grants-legal-status-to-daos-under-duna-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/alabama-grants-legal-status-to-daos-under-duna-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama grants legal status to DAOs under DUNA Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p>Alabama has become the second state in the United States to grant legal status to decentralized autonomous organizations under the Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_5fd516edac9df49795f1f3f0e26a1cd0\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Alabama granted legal status to decentralized autonomous organizations under the DUNA Act, becoming the second US state after Wyoming to do so.<\/li>\n<li>The law provides DAOs with legal recognition and limited liability protections, allowing them to operate, contract, and hold assets within a defined legal framework.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>The DUNA Act, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/alison.legislature.state.al.us\/files\/pdf\/SearchableInstruments\/2026RS\/SB277-enr.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">introduced<\/a> in February by Republican Senator Lance Bell, provides legal recognition and limited liability protections to DAOs after passing 82-7 with 16 abstentions on March 17.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/coinlaw.io\/dao-treasury-holdings-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">data<\/a> from CoinLaw, there are over 13,000 DAOs across the globe, with roughly $24.5 billion worth of assets under their control. The key goal behind this framework is to offer clarity on how DAOs exist and operate within the legal system.<\/p>\n<p>Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has now signed the bill into law, according to a16z Crypto\u2019s head of policy and general counsel, Miles Jennings.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>In a recent X post, Jennings said, \u201cDecentralized governance is essential to crypto\u2019s future\u2014it\u2019s one of the core constructs in market structure legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bill will give decentralized communities \u201cthe certainty to build, govern, contract, and scale in the real world,\u201d Jennings explained.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are certain requirements that organizations must meet to qualify as a DAO. First, a DAO must have at least 100 members for a common nonprofit purpose, such as governing a blockchain network or smart contract system.<\/p>\n<p>These entities can operate through blockchain technology and smart contracts, and voting, proposals, and consensus mechanisms can all be stored on-chain. Such entities will have full legal entity status, which means they can own property, enter into contracts, and sue or be sued.<\/p>\n<p>This will offer individual members protection from personal liability in cases of disputes arising from DAO operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs federal crypto market structure legislation moves closer to becoming law, builders need effective domestic legal structures,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other U.S. states catching up<\/h1>\n<p>Back in 2024, Wyoming became the first state to grant legal status to DAOs under the DUNA Act.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, a similar DUNA bill was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wvlegislature.gov\/Bill_Status\/bills_history.cfm?INPUT=5060&amp;year=2026&amp;sessiontype=RS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">introduced<\/a> in West Virginia by Representative Tristan Leavitt in February and is now awaiting the governor\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alabama has become the second state in the United States to grant legal status to decentralized autonomous organizations under the Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act. Summary Alabama granted legal status&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24875,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24873\/revisions\/24875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}