No limited-liability form for informal associations, and no owner for the DAO law follow-up

The Law Commission's DAO scoping paper (11 July 2024) concluded England and Wales needs no DAO-specific entity but recommended reviewing the Companies Act 2006 and LLP law to accommodate technology-mediated governance. Two years on, no department has commissioned that follow-up. Unwrapped DAOs risk classification as general partnerships with unlimited joint-and-several liability, so serious UK projects wrap offshore (Cayman foundations, Wyoming DUNAs). The same defect bites at the low-tech end: unincorporated associations (the form of ~4,000 Covid mutual aid groups) lack legal personality, cannot hold property, and struggle to open bank accounts. A 2008-9 Law Commission project on unincorporated associations was never implemented.

This is the single clearest delta between what technology allows and what UK law supports: software can coordinate thousands of contributors and treasuries, but every participant carries unlimited personal liability. Formation, assets and tax residence emigrate; neighbourhood groups stay legally invisible and unbanked.

DSIT/MoJ/HM Treasury jointly commissioning the recommended Companies Act and LLP reviews; a limited-liability nonprofit association statute (cf. Wyoming's DUNA / US UUNAA) with cheap same-day digital registration usable by both street-level groups and on-chain communities.

// State-led: Instrument: limited-liability nonprofit association statute; DSIT/MoJ/HM Treasury must commission the recommended reviews.

This is the sharpest gap between what software enables and what law permits; overseas models exist and nobody owns the follow-up, but no dated trigger forces action.