Register Your Project as a Marshall Islands DAO LLC

No. DAO LLC is a legal designation, not an identity requirement. Protocol teams, NFT projects, meme coins, DePIN networks, AI agent builders and investment vehicles all register as DAO LLCs, whether or not they call themselves a DAO. Our docs show how each of these groups uses it.

It depends on whether members will receive profits. A for-profit DAO LLC can distribute profits to its members as dividends and pays a 3% gross revenue tax in the Marshall Islands, which does not apply to invested capital, capital gains or dividends. A non-profit DAO LLC pays no tax there and can still pay members and contributors reasonable compensation for their work, but it needs a genuine non-profit purpose, must spend its money only on furthering it, and cannot distribute profits to members. A DAO LLC cannot later convert from one to the other. See non-profit vs. for-profit in our docs.

As a general benchmark, anyone who holds 25% or more of the DAO LLC's governance rights completes identity verification: KYC for individuals, and KYB for companies, whose ultimate beneficial owners also complete KYC. If no one reaches that threshold, the managers verify instead, or one member if there are no managers. Verification, including sanctions screening, runs at registration and again at each annual filing. For the full rules and the documents each person needs, see more in our docs.

No. A Marshall Islands DAO LLC needs no local directors, council members or nominees, and no physical presence in the country. MIDAO acts as your registered agent and provides the local address, and every registration task and document is in MIDAO's online portal.

Most DAO LLCs complete the whole process and receive their charter in about 30 days. That covers the operating agreement, KYC/KYB, the formation documents, and the Marshall Islands government's review and background checks. If you need the entity sooner, the TurboDAO add-on creates it in under 24 hours.

Registration is a one-time setup fee scaled to your project's treasury and funding size, plus an annual fee on the same basis, and both include all Marshall Islands government fees. The current figures are on our pricing page. You can pay by credit card, bank wire, or in USDC on Solana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Base or Optimism, from any wallet; see payment methods.

Once the service agreement is signed and paid, onboarding starts in MIDAO's portal. You adapt a template operating agreement to your project, the people named in your beneficial ownership report complete KYC or KYB, and you sign the formation documents. MIDAO reviews everything and files it with the Registrar, and once the government approves the filing you receive your DAO LLC charter. Each step is in the registration process docs.

Yes. A DAO LLC is a legal person and can open bank, exchange and other financial accounts, though each provider makes its own decision and any Web3 company can find approval challenging. MIDAO introduces registered DAO LLCs to banks and crypto-friendly providers, and our docs list recommended banks and fintechs. Many projects bank through a separate operating company instead.