2026-07-09 –, Linden Theater
Autonomous Forest is a non-profit DAO and association that acquires and collectively manages forest areas while navigating the legal challenges of operating a blockchain-based organization under German law. This presentation explores the legal structure it adopted, the alternatives considered (like foundations), and how the model could be adapted for other projects.
Autonomous Forest is a non-profit association and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) dedicated to acquiring and collectively managing forest areas. Through decentralized platforms, its members make decisions collaboratively.
The launch of Autonomous Forest last year was preceded by several years of development work, focused primarily on ensuring that a blockchain-based organization could operate compatibly with German law—raising the central question: what is the appropriate legal structure for such a project?
This presentation is aimed at individuals and organizers who want to learn more about the legal organizational structures available in Germany. It will explain and discuss the model used by Autonomous Forest, examine the "roads not taken" (such as foundations/Stiftungen), and explore how this approach might be adapted for other applications, including as a digital organization without blockchain.
Paul Seidler is an artist, researcher and programmer based in Berlin, whose work traverses networks — from creating decentralized protocols to deploying legal interventions. Since 2015, he has been working with blockchain-based technologies to investigate questions of value, ownership and encryption. He is recognized as one of the founding members of terra0, a collective comprising developers, theorists, and artists committed to developing hybrid ecosystems within the technosphere.