  While previously a nascent theoretical construct, decentralized autonomous
organizations have grown rapidly in recent years. DAOs typically emerge around
the management of decentralized financial applications and thus benefit from
the rapid growth of innovation in this sector. In response, global regulators
increasingly voice the intent to regulate these activities. This may impose an
excessive compliance burden on DAOs, unless they are deemed sufficiently
decentralized to be regulated. Yet, decentralization is an abstract concept
with scarce legal precedence. We investigate dimensions of decentralization
through thematic analysis, combining extant literature with a series of expert
interviews. We propose a definition of 'sufficient decentralization' and
present a general framework for the assessment of decentralization. We derive
five dimensions for the assessment of decentralization in DAOs: Token-weighted
voting, Infrastructure, Governance, Escalation and Reputation. We present a
discretionary sample application of the framework and five propositions on the
future regulation and supervision of DAOs. We contribute new practical insights
on the topic of compliance and decentralized organizations to the growing
discourse on the application of blockchain technology in information systems
and management disciplines
