"The DAO got together in 2021 when a group of crypto investors realized they could pool resources to acquire a work by the artist pplpleasr (she’s now an honourary member). Shortly thereafter, the collective sprinted into the spotlight with a series of high-profile acquisitions, including the NFT-ified doge meme, pharmaceutical supervillain Martin Shrekli’s sole copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album, and Edward Snowden’s Stay Free NFT. Each of these grails was notable not only for its high price tag and the collective buy-in that made its acquisition possible, but its high standing within the meme economy. As “chief pleasing officer” Jamis Johnson put it in the DAO’s New York Times profile: these are “the signature pieces of digital culture.”