Company · Governance
Many hands. One standard.
In 1688, a coffee house on Tower Street became the most trusted insurance market in the world. No single company owned it. Everyone in the room knew their role — and the rules held them all. We are designing Michelangelo the same way.
Proposed framework · No DAO, securities offering or underwriting facility has been formed
The strongest financial institutions are not the ones with the most power in one place. They are the ones where power is divided — and every part of it is answerable to someone.
Michelangelo’s proposed framework combines three ideas: institutional governance by accountable officers and committees; structured participation by members through a Wyoming DAO LLC; and a long-term mission to help people take charge of their coverage, debt and taxes.
None of these ideas is allowed to swallow the others. That is the whole design.
IThe lesson of the Room
Lloyd’s is not an insurer. It is a market of separated roles.
Lloyd’s itself writes no policies. Its members do, through syndicates — and four kinds of participant each do one job, earn in one way, and answer to one set of rules.
- I
The broker
Brings a risk into the Room on behalf of a client.
EarnsA commission for placing the business.
Our equivalentIndependent licensed agencies that help people choose coverage.
- II
The managing agent
Prices the risk, writes the policy and runs the syndicate day to day.
EarnsA management fee, and a share of profit only if the book performs.
Our equivalentAuthorized managers who run operations under written mandates.
- III
The syndicate
A pool of members’ capital that actually bears the risk — and pays the claims.
EarnsThe underwriting result: profit in good years, losses in bad ones.
Our equivalentFuture, separately licensed risk-bearing vehicles. Not part of today’s business.
- IV
The market
Sets the rules, supervises every participant and keeps a mutual Central Fund behind them all.
EarnsLevies and subscriptions that fund supervision and the Central Fund.
Our equivalentMichelangelo’s governance: common standards, compliance and shared systems.
The chain of security.
When a claim arrives, it is paid from the inside out. Each ring must be exhausted before the next is touched — so every participant’s capital stands in a known order, and the whole market stands behind the last resort.
- ISyndicate assetsPremiums held in trust by each syndicate to pay its own claims first.
- IIMembers’ fundsCapital each member must post before writing any business.
- IIIThe Central FundA mutual reserve the whole market contributes to — the last link.
What we take from it: distribution, management, capital and supervision belong in different hands.
IIFour rights, kept apart
Belonging, voting, owning and underwriting are four different things.
Each is created by a different instrument and governed by a different body of law. Merging them into a single token or membership is how well-meaning projects become unlawful ones. We keep them in separate vaults.
- Vault I
Membership
The right to belong to the governance organization and take part in its life.
- Created by
- The operating agreement of the proposed DAO LLC.
- Never gives you
- Ownership of any business, a share of commissions or any financial return.
- Vault II
Voice
The right to propose and vote on matters the governing documents reserve to members.
- Created by
- Voting rules written into those documents, and nothing else.
- Never gives you
- Authority over licensed decisions, consumer protections or regulators.
- Vault III
Ownership
An economic interest in a specific legal entity — equity in the ordinary sense.
- Created by
- A lawful securities transaction: registered, or under a valid exemption, with disclosures.
- Never gives you
- Something earned by being a customer, a member or reaching a financial goal.
- Vault IV
Risk
Participation in insurance underwriting — capital that pays claims when they come.
- Created by
- A licensed insurer or approved vehicle, with solvency capital and supervision.
- Never gives you
- Anything available today. It is a long-term, separately authorized possibility.
Four instruments. Four bodies of law. Never one token.
IIIThe proposed structure
A group of ring-fenced companies, governed together, regulated apart.
Eligible participants
Members
Wyoming · proposed
Michelangelo Governance DAO LLC
Membership, proposals, voting and the constitutional rules — nothing more.
Accountable management
Governing board & executive officers
Strategy, budgets, risk and the execution of what members approve.
Standing committees
Audit & Risk · Compliance · Capital · Technology
Licensed
Insurance agency
Licensed agents help people with ACA Marketplace and Medicare coverage. Carries its own licenses, responsible producer and books.
Own licenses · own books · own capital
Technology
Financial platform
Tools to understand coverage, track debt goals and organize tax documents. Regulated services only through authorized providers.
Own licenses · own books · own capital
Securities law
Capital vehicle
The only place ownership could ever be offered — through registration or a valid exemption, with full disclosure.
Own licenses · own books · own capital
Future
Underwriting partnerships
Risk-bearing arrangements with licensed insurers and capital providers. Requires separate authorization and capital.
Own licenses · own books · own capital
Why a Wyoming DAO LLC — and why only for governance.
Wyoming law recognizes decentralized autonomous organizations as a form of limited liability company, managed by their members or by members together with smart contracts. That gives member participation a real legal home: written rights, enforceable rules and limited liability.
It does not change the rules for anything else. Insurance, lending, tax preparation and securities remain regulated exactly as before — so the DAO governs the group’s direction, while each licensed company stays answerable to its own regulators. The operating agreement would define how members delegate day-to-day authority to officers and committees.
VOfficers and committees
Named people, written duties.
Chief Executive Officer
Strategy, partnerships and accountability for executing what the governing body approves.
Chief Operating Officer
Agency operations, staffing, service quality and the systems people rely on every day.
Chief Financial Officer
Treasury, budgets, reserves and financial reporting — entity by entity, never pooled.
Chief Compliance Officer
Insurance, privacy, consumer-protection and securities compliance, with a direct line to the board.
Chief Technology Officer
The platform, security and the integrity of records and votes.
Chief Risk Officer
Enterprise risk, controls, capital exposure and incident response.
Designated Responsible Licensed Producer
Statutory responsibility for licensed insurance activity. Answers to regulators — not to a vote.
Standing committees
Audit & Risk
Oversees financial reporting, internal controls and the risk register; meets the auditors without management present.
Compliance
Reviews regulatory obligations, complaints, marketing standards and consumer outcomes; can halt a program.
Capital
Sets reserve policy, tests every proposed distribution and reviews any capital-raising with securities counsel.
Technology
Approves architecture, security posture and the rules by which proposals and votes are recorded.
Every committee would have a written charter, quorum and voting rules, a conflicts-of-interest policy and the authority to escalate. Some offices may be combined at first where the law allows; the responsible licensed producer cannot be removed from the chain by a vote.
VIHow the money moves
Capital before distribution. Always in that order.
Money flows downward through five stages, each one narrower than the last. Nothing reaches the bottom until every obligation above it is met.
- 1Revenue
Carrier commissions for policies placed, platform and service fees, and tax-preparation fees. No advance fees for debt relief.
- 2Operating costs
Licensed people, compliance, technology and service. The work is paid for first.
- 3Capital & reserves
Each entity’s regulatory minimums, plus reserves for commission chargebacks when policies lapse.
- 4Reinvestment
Budgeted growth approved by the board, and member-approved initiatives within their mandate.
- 5Distributions
Only to holders of lawful ownership interests, only after the capital tests pass.
Ring-fenced books
Every entity keeps its own accounts, licenses and capital. Client money is never commingled.
Paid for the work, not the outcome
Each layer earns for what it does and the risk it carries — as at Lloyd’s, where brokers, managers and capital are paid differently.
No rewards for buying
No member or customer is ever given shares or value for enrolling, borrowing or filing — rules against inducements and rebating exist for good reason.
Arm’s length inside the group
Services between entities are written down and priced as if between strangers, so no one subsidizes or extracts value quietly.
VIIA Lloyd’s-inspired market, in two rooms
First, a room for distribution. Perhaps, one day, a room for capital.
Phase one · The practical model
The distribution room
Independent licensed agencies work inside a shared room: common technology, compliance, training, carrier access and call systems. Each agency keeps its own license, clients and book. Michelangelo provides the infrastructure and the market rules — and can remove a participant who breaks them. It assumes no insurance risk.
- Agencies distribute policies issued by existing insurers
- Michelangelo earns service and platform fees
- Standards enforced like a market, not a franchise
Phase two · A long-term possibility
The capital room
Authorized underwriting managers and capital providers could one day bear selected risks through licensed insurers, reinsurance or other approved vehicles, with a shared reserve standing behind the market. This needs actuarial expertise, solvency capital and regulatory authorization — and issuing ACA plans would require a licensed insurer with Qualified Health Plan certification.
- Separately organized and capitalized
- Qualified capital providers only, through lawful offerings
- Never presented as available until authorized
Running an agency and running an insurer are different businesses. Michelangelo will not describe itself as an underwriting market unless and until such a structure has been formed, capitalized and authorized.
VIIIThe financial independence initiative
One place to see coverage, debt and taxes — built one license at a time.
A future application, not a launched product. Each capability begins with education and tools, and expands only through properly authorized providers.
ICoverage
Begins as
Licensed agents, renewals and plain-language guidance on ACA and Medicare options.
Expands only with
A separately licensed insurer, if ever pursued.
IICredit
Begins as
Balance tracking, repayment goals and calculators that compare options honestly.
Expands only with
Lending or debt services only through licensed providers, within FTC and state rules.
IIITaxes
Begins as
Document organization, checklists and estimators.
Expands only with
Paid preparation by PTIN holders and filing through an authorized e-file provider.
IVCapital
Begins as
Financial education and long-term planning.
Expands only with
Ownership opportunities only through a lawful, separately documented offering.
The walls between data.
Coverage, credit and tax information sit under different privacy rules. Tax-return information, in particular, cannot be used to market insurance or anything else without the taxpayer’s specific written consent. The application would keep each behind its own wall.
Goals are not shares.
Paying down debt or filing on time will never earn someone equity. Rewarding financial behavior with ownership would create securities, inducement and conflict problems. Any ownership would be a separate, voluntary and lawful transaction.
IXThe order of things
Every phase opens only through its gate.
- 0
In planning
In planning
Foundation
Draft the Wyoming DAO LLC articles and operating agreement; appoint officers; adopt committee charters.
Gate
Wyoming corporate counsel signs off; filing with the Secretary of State.
- I
Proposed
Proposed
Distribution
Operate the licensed agency under a documented compliance program; open the distribution room to partner agencies.
Gate
Insurance regulatory review of ownership and control.
- II
Proposed
Proposed
Platform
Launch education tools, trackers and document organization; integrate only authorized providers.
Gate
Privacy and security assessment; partner due diligence.
- III
Proposed
Proposed
Capital
Consider raising capital for the group or a specific entity.
Gate
Securities counsel; registration or a valid exemption; offering documents.
- IV
Long term
Long term
Underwriting
Explore partnerships in which authorized parties bear insurance risk.
Gate
Regulatory authorization, solvency capital and actuarial review.
XTransparency
Open books. Closed files.
Would be published
- Governing documents and amendments
- Officers and committee membership
- Committee charters and policies
- Approved proposals and how members voted
- An annual governance report
In the Documents library, once adopted.
Never published
- Any consumer’s health, tax, credit or contact information
- Personal data of any kind on a blockchain
- Confidential carrier or partner terms
- Security details that would help an attacker
If votes are ever recorded on a blockchain, only proposals and tallies would be — never a person’s data.
The aim is not to sell more financial products. It is to build an institution that deserves to hold people’s trust for a very long time.
Governance notice
This page describes a proposed organizational framework and long-term objectives. It does not state that a decentralized autonomous organization, regulated financial-services entity, insurance underwriting facility, capital vehicle or financial application has been formed, licensed or authorized. Actual arrangements will be determined only by executed governing documents and applicable law.
Nothing on this page is an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security or membership interest. No ownership interest, return, dividend or profit share is offered or promised. References to Lloyd’s of London describe a well-known market structure for illustration; Michelangelo is not affiliated with Lloyd’s.
Insurance is offered only through licensed agents; credit and debt services only where lawful and through authorized providers; tax preparation only by credentialed professionals.