88 LAWYERMONTHLYDECEMBER 2022 Karate Combat’s Launch of DAO About the Deal Appleby advised Karate Combat on its launch of a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO), becoming the first professional sports league to do so. The DAO will be launched in the coming months. The project comes as part of a three-year sponsorship with The HBAR Foundation, part of the Hedera blockchain. The DAO will enable holders of ‘$KARATE’ governance tokens to vote to determine the league’s budget, marketing strategy, resource allocation, supplier selection and rules changes, as well as fighter contracts and fighter match-up selections (within parameters to be determined by the league’s fight operations group). Half of the tokens will be distributed over time for free between participants in the DAO from the Karate Combat community and users of the organisation’s Up Only Gaming app. Karate Combat is known for blending live-action sports with CGI environments, where professional martial artists compete for title prizes in eight weight divisions. The franchise has previously collaborated on tech projects with SushiSwap and Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Karate Combat League President Adam Kovacs lauded the initiative as a means of granted fans greater control over the franchise. “When the DAO launches, Karate Combat fans and fighters will participate in governance, which will provide unmatched levels of interaction and engagement at all levels of our community,” Kovacs said in a statement. Transaction Interview Advisor to Karate Combat:
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