🕵️ The DAO That Wasn’t – A Deep Dive into False Promises
- Abdul Rehman
- May 17
- 2 min read
🚩 The Setup: Decentralization or Just Decoration?
In the wild west of Web3, DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) were supposed to be the antidote to shady leadership and centralized rug-pullers. A promise of power to the people, transparency over tyranny.
But what happens when a DAO... isn't a DAO?
Enter "CivicVerse DAO", a project that burst onto the NFT scene with promises of giving users full voting power, community treasury control, and full access to development decisions. The branding was clean, the influencers were loud, and the roadmap glowed with the usual buzzwords: transparency, community-led, governance.
It was all a beautifully lit neon lie.
🧵 Pulling the Thread: What Went Wrong?
It started small — a few community votes ignored here and there. “The devs know best,” they'd say. Then came unilateral treasury spending: $150k in ETH transferred to an unknown wallet for “marketing purposes” with zero community input.
When users asked for a breakdown? Crickets.
In a supposed DAO, where every transaction should be traceable and every vote honored, CivicVerse operated like an oligarchy with a Discord server.
The dev team controlled all wallet access, staged votes (and mysteriously always won), and when pressed about their control, dropped classic gaslighting lines like:
“We’re just streamlining the process for now.”“Decentralization comes in phases.”
Translation: You were never in control.
🔍 Who Were These People, Anyway?
CivicVerse flaunted its “anonymous” founding team as a strength. Turns out, the core members were already involved in two failed NFT projects before — one of which ended in a full-on rug with $500k lost.
Their whitepaper? Plagiarized from three other DAO blueprints.The legal structure? Nonexistent.The community fund? Emptied faster than a meme coin pump-n-dump.
Despite warnings from eagle-eyed sleuths on Twitter and posts on r/cryptoscams, new members kept joining, pulled in by polished videos, faux AMAs, and catchy tweets.
The truth only hit after a major crypto influencer called them out publicly — and was instantly banned from the CivicVerse Discord.
🧠 Lessons from the "DAO That Wasn't"
If governance can't be verified on-chain, it's just a buzzword.
Anonymity without accountability is a red flag, not a feature.
“Streamlining” is code for “we control everything.”
Don't fall for whitepapers that say a lot without meaning anything.
Always verify before you vibe.
📢 Whispers From the Community
A former mod (posting under an alt) claimed the devs received commissions from private NFT presales and filtered profits through side wallets. Screenshots leaked, tweets were deleted, Discord bots silenced dissent.
The worst part? The community that genuinely believed in the mission — artists, collectors, thinkers — got left holding the bag.
🚨 Final Verdict: Not a DAO, Just a Disaster
CivicVerse promised Web3 evolution. It delivered Web2 deception in a Web3 costume. This wasn't decentralization — it was dictatorship wrapped in neon.
The DAO label means nothing if the people holding the power are the same ones gatekeeping access.
🔦 Behind the Mint Rating:
💀 Trust Level: 1/10🧠 Transparency: 0/10👥 Community Control: 1/10🔥 Drama Level: 11/10
Remember: Just because it says DAO doesn’t mean you’re part of the “O.”
If you want to expose or tip us about another shady project, slide into our DMs — anonymous sources welcome.
🧪 Stay sharp. Stay sovereign. Stay skeptical.
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