Theodor Beutel

About

My research centres on how decentralised organisations govern themselves, and whether they can do so democratically.

At the Ethereum Foundation, I coordinate research and engage with open source, digital rights and academic communities. I was previously a research affiliate on the project “Decentralised Decision-Making in DAOs: Learnings for Digital Democracy” at the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA), University of Zurich.

Throughout 2018–2023, I was Governance Lead at Safe, a Gnosis spin-out, and VitaDAO, an early DeSci DAO, contributed to Colony, DAOstack’s Genesis DAO, DAO Incubator, Bundesblock, and explored the use of blockchain in international development cooperation at GIZ Blockchain Lab.

Whether you are a researcher, practitioner, user, policymaker, journalist or simply interested in a conversation, I would be glad to hear from you.

Featured

Publications

Teaching

  • 2026
    Guest lecture, MSc Management and MSc Finance, Technology & Policy University of Edinburgh Business School
  • 2026
    Guest lecture, Decentralised Technologies: Law, Finance and Society course by Morshed Mannan University of Edinburgh School of Law
  • 2026
    Guest lecture, DeFi course by Arthur Gervais University College London
  • 2019
    Guest lecture, Master of Law and Business Bucerius Law School, Hamburg

Academic Service

  • 2026
    Co-host of Open Panel #180 at the 4S Annual Meeting “Exit, Voice, and Stake: Governance and the Boundaries of Legitimate Coordination in Open Infrastructure” with Ann Brody; Society for Social Studies of Science, Toronto, October 2026
  • 2026
    Industry Steering Committee, DAWO 2026 European DAO Workshop, ZHAW Winterthur, July 2026
  • 2025
    Track Chair (Policy, Ethics & Governance), OUI Conference 2025 Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon
  • 2025
    Workshop Moderator (DAOs & Digital Democracy), DAWO 2025 with Uwe Serdült and Ann Brody

Talks

More Podcasts, panels, workshops, and earlier talks