About — Onion DAO

Roots

Originally an experimental love letter to Chicago, Onion DAO began as a four-week-long event in the heart of the city to bring together crypto-adjacent folks. With help from generous sponsors like Solana Foundation we were able to provide an effective third space for over 400 people. Together we built lasting community through live activations and events and up-skilled everyday Chicagoans into frontier technologies.

The first Onion DAO event was centered around activating the community in Chicago. For year two we want to differentiate from builder hubs and hackathons by writing a new playbook for events — one that builds markets and helps builders get distribution. Onion DAO sits at a unique position where it can help builders connect with everyday people and learn and grow from these interactions.

Up-skill Chicagoans

Give them room to experiment with and learn frontier technologies — crypto, AI, and everything between.

Build Chicago as a frontier market

A distribution center for world-class builders to engage with everyday users. Feedback loops you can't get on Twitter.

Tactically, we're ideating around four threads to get there:

A community melting pot. A shared 24/7 workspace where peers discover each other, hang out, learn new skills, and meet people they wouldn't be exposed to otherwise.
Workshops that teach new skills — technical ones like vibe coding, creative ones like music production, business ones like distribution.
Sponsorship opportunities for businesses and builders to show off their products, get feedback, and learn from potential users.
Experiments with frontier tech that give participants opportunities to apply what they're learning.

The Onion is returning, and with it the spirit of community and experimentation.