AssangeDAO raises over $39 million to aid in WikiLeaks founder’s release
The decentralised autonomous organization AssangeDAO, created to aid in the release from prison of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has raised 12,732 ETH (about $39.1 million at the time of writing).
The fundraising began on 4 February 2022, according to JuiceBox.
According to the site, ДАО began organizing through a Telegram group on 10 December 2021. The initiators described themselves as “a group of cypherpunks, united on the side of a comrade in distress”.
“One of the best ways to achieve justice is to expose injustice,” they quoted the head of WikiLeaks.
The organization set out to raise funds to participate in the NFT auction of Censored by Assange and digital artist Pak, slated to begin on 7 February.
“Proceeds from the NFT sale will go to the Assange legal defense fund and a campaign to raise awareness of the implications of his case for freedom of speech,” the statement said.
The project’s organizers noted that they followed the example of FreeRossDAO, which raised $12 million for the release of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.
The PleasrDAO-led community acquired for 1,446 ETH an NFT collection from Ulbricht on the SuperRare platform.
In AssangeDAO they noted that in a matter of days they surpassed the largest JuiceBox DAO raise to date in ETH. ConstitutionDAO in November 2021 attracted 11,613 ETH.
AssangeDAO is now the largest JuiceBox DAO raise in History exceeding that of ConstitutionDAO.
Congrats everyone this seriously exceeded our wildest expectations!#FreeAssangeNOW pic.twitter.com/MqhZv6CWTK
— AssangeDAO (@AssangeDAO) February 6, 2022
The community last planned to bid for a historically valuable copy of the U.S. Constitution at Sotheby’s. In dollar terms, ConstitutionDAO’s treasury stood at about $49 million due to a higher price of cryptocurrency. The project failed to win the auction.
The results of the AssangeDAO fundraising were commented on by former CIA and NSA employee Edward Snowden:
“NFTs of Assange show real numbers. It looks a lot like a protest vote against the White House’s abuse of the Espionage Act.”
The Assange NFT is doing real numbers. Very much looks like a protest vote against the White House’s abuse of the Espionage Act. https://t.co/taQDbCGOkc
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 6, 2022
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin backed AssangeDAO. In response to a post by Gnosis founder Martin Köppelmann that he had contributed 10 ETH to the DAO, Buterin wrote: “As did I”.
As did I.https://t.co/o4iPyva68Z
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 7, 2022
“It’s a disgrace to our society that exposing war crimes condemns you to rot in prison,” Köppelmann commented emotionally.
As a reminder, since 2019 Assange has been in a British prison, facing extradition to the United States.
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