March 27, 2025

How to build a DAO on peaq: XMAQUINA case study

peaq

Community

Robotics and automation will redefine the future of industries, labor, and society. The question is: Who will benefit? The 1% or the 100%? From a historical perspective, the answer is obvious: Corporations and powerful individuals tend to shape the trajectory of such revolutionary technology — and reap all (or most) of its benefits.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) offer an alternative.

These blockchain-powered collectives give communities a stake in emerging technologies and industries, empowering them to make collective decisions and share the value being created. DAOs shift control from centralized entities to decentralized groups, ensuring that innovation serves the many, not just the few.

XMAQUINA is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) made up of early adopters, builders, and investors shaping the Machine Economy. Through decentralized governance, members don’t just watch the future unfold — they actively participate in it and share in its growth. The DAO enables its community to propose, fund, and back the companies of tomorrow in a way that is transparent, democratic, and decentralized.

There was no place better than peaq to bring this vision to life, thanks to the network’s focus on powering the Machine Economy, and so, peaq is home to the XMAQUINA DAO.

To bring about true change, decentralized ownership and governance must work efficiently. Whether acquiring equity in robotics firms, funding R&D, investing in decentralized machine-focused networks, or tokenizing machine RWAs through its Machine Economy launchpad, every decision a DAO makes must follow a structured and enforceable process.

XMAQUINA integrates tools like Snapshot and Aragon OSx, both now available on peaq, to move decisions from discussion to democratic execution.

‍

Tech Stack: Aragon, Snapshot, and peaq’s role in governance

‍

Snapshot for Temperature Checks

Snapshot enables gasless, off-chain voting, allowing DAOs to gauge community sentiment before finalizing decisions. As a temperature check tool, it helps filter out weak or unworkable proposals early, ensuring only well-supported initiatives move forward.

XMAQUINA leverages Snapshot to streamline governance, keeping decision-making transparent, efficient, and accessible while lowering participation barriers.

You can read more about XMAQUINAs governance process here.

‍

Aragon OSx: Secure, Modular, and Adaptable Treasury Management

Aragon OSx is built to strengthen decentralization and adaptability in DAO management through its modular architecture. Governance logic is structured into plugins, allowing for safe and customizable upgrades without disrupting core operations. This approach minimizes centralization risks by ensuring all governance actions — from proposals to execution — are managed entirely onchain with a security-first framework that has protected billions in assets.

Its design emphasizes flexibility, with a lean core that supports the integration of various plugins. This allows DAOs to refine and expand their governance models as needed, ensuring they can evolve while maintaining security and transparency. By enabling decentralized decision-making without unnecessary complexity, Aragon OSx helps DAOs progress toward broader participation and self-sustaining governance.

XMAQUINA uses advanced plugins like optimistic dual governance and veToken governance to address low voter participation. These mechanisms allow users to express their preferences without requiring frequent votes, solving a key challenge in decentralized decision-making. These systems keep governance widely distributed while making participation easier for all contributors.

‍

peaq: The Machine Economy backbone

peaq is an EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain designed to serve as the backbone of the decentralized Machine Economy. As such, it makes for the perfect home for various DePAI and Web3 robotics projects, bringing everything together as the transaction and identity layer.

peaq is home to XMAQUINA DAO’s onchain components, including its Treasury and key smart contracts that make the DAO tick. In this architecture, peaq plays a vital role, providing the DAO with a fast, powerful, and versatile network that enables its most critical functions and mechanisms.

‍

Governance Stack: The benefits in Web3

An onchain treasury ensures transparency, making all financial movements within the DAO visible and verifiable. XMAQUINA takes a balanced approach by using Snapshot to signal governance decisions while ensuring that only finalized, community-approved actions move onchain. This method preserves efficiency while keeping the governance process decentralized.

But outside transparency, this model allows DAOs to integrate legal frameworks, bridging onchain governance with enforceable, real-world structures. This ensures that decisions made within the DAO have tangible, legally recognized outcomes, further reinforcing accountability and credibility.

Additionally, AI-driven agents connected to onchain data can simplify governance by providing participants with clearer insights. Instead of navigating complex data manually, contributors can make well-informed decisions with real-time analysis, reducing governance fatigue while maintaining engagement.

‍

Decentralized DAO Legal Structure

Not all DAO wrappers and legal structures are created equal. True decentralization isn’t just about governance mechanisms — it also depends on the legal framework that supports it. A poorly-designed legal structure can leave control in the hands of a centralized board, limiting the DAO’s autonomy.

XMAQUINA’s DAO was structured with maximum decentralization in mind, ensuring that governance remains in the hands of token holders rather than a small group of decision-makers. To achieve this, XMAQUINA explored legal models that align with the DAO’s mission of collective ownership and autonomy.

Expert law firms like Aurum Law’s DAOBox specialize in creating scalable legal frameworks that strengthen decentralization. One example is the Marshall Islands DAO LLC, which allows DAOs to operate with full governance control, free from traditional corporate oversight.

To learn more about decentralized legal structures and how they support DAO autonomy, visit harmony.daobox.io.

‍

Learnings and Insights for Other DAOs

As DAOs consider migrating to peaq, key lessons from XMAQUINA’s governance structure can help streamline the transition and support long-term success.

Legal preparation should come first. Governance frameworks and onchain configurations must align with legal structures to avoid complications down the line. Setting this up early provides a strong foundation and ensures compliance while maintaining decentralization.
Flexibility is key. DAOs evolve over time, and governance models must adapt alongside them. A flexible real-world framework combined with an adaptable onchain system allows projects to scale and pivot as needed.
Security is essential. Aragon OSx on peaq provides a battle-tested infrastructure trusted by leading DAOs like Lido and Optimism DAO. This ensures security while allowing DAOs to introduce upgrades and modifications without compromising security or decentralization.

‍

About XMAQUINA DAO

XMAQUINA is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) on a mission to democratize the ownership and governance of robotics and Physical AI, ensuring these advancements serve humanity as a collective. Follow XMAQUINA on X and join its Discord.

‍