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Okay, picture this: my buddy hits me up last week, "Hey, wanna pool some SOL to launch this dumb cat NFT series?" I'm like, sure, but we need real votes, not just DMs. So we spin up a quick DAO on Squads. Boom-proposal out, votes in, treasury funded. That's the magic. Took like 20 minutes. If you're eyeing Solana DAOs for 2025, this is your jam. Low fees, stupid fast, and no BS middlemen.
Why Solana? Transactions hit for ~0.000005 SOL each. Compare that to Ethereum's gas spikes. And with upgrades like Firedancer rolling out, it's only getting smoother. But honestly, the real flex is these platforms-Realms, Squads, Goki. They're battle tested for everything from NFT communities to DeFi yield farms.
I usually kick off with Realms. It's the OG for Solana governance. Think NFT gated groups or token voting crews. In my experience, it's perfect if you're building something with actual rules-like councils for big decisions.
Here's the deal. Head to realms.today. Connect Phantom or whatever wallet you're rocking. Hit Create DAO. Pick your flavor: NFT Community DAO if it's holders only, or Token Governance if you're minting votes.
Now, proposals. Click ⊕ New Proposal. Want to spend treasury? Pick "Transfer" instruction, paste recipient address, amount-like 5 SOL to an NFT artist. Set voting window: 3 days usually. Members vote with their stake. Passes? Executes on chain.
But watch out-newbies mess up voting thresholds. Set it too high (like 80% quorum), nothing moves. I once saw a DAO stall for weeks. Fix? Go to Params, tweak config. Propose a change, vote it through.
Switching gears. Squads.io? That's my go to for casual stuff. No coding, multisig vibes. Great for 3-5 friends funding a trade bot or whatever. Devnet version for testing-switch your wallet network first.
Go to squads.io (or devnet.squads.io). Connect wallet. Create Squad. Name it, pick members upfront. Say you, me, Jessica-mint 100k tokens each. Total supply locks in.
Deploy. Tx flies through in seconds. Add members later? Propose it, vote, new tokens mint to them automatically. The thing is, tokens stay program locked. No dumping.
Proposals here are fire. From dashboard, "Add Member"-paste pubkey. Or "Execute Transaction"-send SOL, swap on Jupiter, anything. I used it to approve a 2 SOL Raydium liquidity add. Smooth.
Issue? Front running. Someone sees your proposal, snipes. Solution: Use core only proposals for sensitive stuff. Or time it off peak.
Goki's more for DAOs with real tokens-like ORCA holders running their DEX. It's plug and play but scales. If your project's got a $GOKI or whatever native coin, this integrates.
Setup's similar. Define mission first-on paper, not on chain yet. Then launch via their tooling. Multisig treasury standard. Deploy governance token if needed.
? Stake your tokens for voting power. Propose upgrades, like fee changes. ORCA DAO does this-council elected, discusses on Discord, votes on site.
Why pick Goki over others? Deeper tokenomics. Set vesting, burns, whatever. But steeper learning. Test on devnet. Fees? Still peanuts, 0.00064 SOL median per tx.
| Platform | Best For | Setup Time | Token Needs? | Fee Vibe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Realms | NFT DAOs, councils | 10 mins | Optional | ~0.01 SOL |
| Squads | Small teams, multisig | 5 mins | Auto mints | ~0.005 SOL |
| Goki | Token DAOs, DEX gov | 15 mins | Required | ~0.0006 SOL |
Pick based on crew size. Small? Squads. NFT peeps? Realms. Token launch? Goki.
Okay, detour. Orca's not just a DEX-it's a full DAO. Holders vote on pools, fees, upgrades. Daily volume? $360M+. Fees 0.3% split to LPs and stakers.
How to plug in? Grab ORCA tokens. Stake for boosts. Head to their governance page. Propose? Describe, set dates, options. Vote with balance. Sound familiar? Same as Realms but tied to swaps.
I staked some last month. Earned fee discounts, voted on a new stable pool. Treasury funds dev work. Pro tip: Use their UI-Jupiter integration for best prices.
Look, DAOs sound easy. But nah. First: Wallet drama. Always double check network-mainnet vs devnet. Lost 0.1 SOL once. Dumb.
Second: Low participation. Fix? Airdrop small stakes. Or NFT gates for skin in game.
Third: Security. Multisig mandatory. Squads does it auto. Realms too. Never single treasury.
Gas? Negligible. But congestion hits-Firedancer 2025 fixes that. Meanwhile, batch txs.
Taxes? US folks, track everything. Proposals count as.. gray area. Consult a pro.
Advanced: Integrate with Raydium for treasury yields. Propose auto compounding. Or link to Magic Eden for NFT drops. Composability is Solana's secret sauce.
But wait-launchpads like Solanium tie in. Stake SLIM for DAO access to IDOs. Vetting's tight, ROI's been iffy lately (-67%), but quality projects.
StarLaunch for GameFi DAOs. Cross chain, post launch liquidity help. Not memecoin central.
Once live, grow that bag. Deposit via QR. Propose spends: Airdrops, hires, swaps.
I usually zap idle SOL to Jito staking. ~7% APY. Propose it as a group yield strat. Or lend on Marginfi-undercollateralized, dynamic rates.
Issues? Hacks. Audit proposals if big. Use Pyths oracles for price feeds in smart stuff.
What's next? Your turn. Pick Squads, make a test DAO. Add me as member? Kidding. But seriously, start small. 0.1 SOL budget. Vote on pizza fund. Scales from there.
And yeah, 2025's stacked-Alpenglow for faster onboarding, ZK Compression slashing costs. DAOs will eat DeFi. Get in now.
Raydium's got DAO elements too. RAY stakers vote on accelerators, NFT markets. Volume $500M+. 0.25% fees to LPs.
Link your DAO treasury here. Propose LP adds. Earn RAY rewards. I did this-doubled idle SOL in a week.
Zeta Markets for perps. DAO governed? Kinda, via backers. High throughput, Serum orderbook. Trade futures, options. Fees low, CEX feel.
Pro tip: Use Backpack or Zerion wallet. Bundles txs, one click deploys.
Step one: Community first. Discord, Twitter Spaces.
Two: Token if needed. Fair launch on Pump.fun? Nah, DAO mint.
Three: Proposals galore. Start with grants. "Fund this artist 1 SOL."
Four: Yield it. Vaults on Kamino-auto compounds.
I've seen DAOs hit 100k TVL in months. Yours can too. Just vote, don't lurk.
One more: Privacy upgrades. Confidential transfers live. Hide treasury moves if paranoid.
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