A DAO set up to fund Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s legal defense has received 14,241 ETH in donations in just four days.
DAO to bid on Assange’s one-of-a-kind NFT
Among those who contributed were Vitalik Buterin and Edward Snowden. AssangeDAO intends to utilize their funds to bid on a 1/1 NFT called Censored, which Julian Assange will release soon in partnership with digital artist Pak.
There is also an open NFT collection included in the release. The revenues from the sale of the NFT will be used to fund Assange’s legal defense. According to AssangeDAO, the Wikileaks founder risks 175 years in prison for “sharing truthful information.” He is accused of collecting and distributing national security material and conspiracy to perform computer intrusions.
If the DAO does not win the auction, contributors can choose whether to receive a refund or continue to support the DAO. Nonetheless, AssangeDAO promotes competitive bidders on their website:
We will be happy if we lose the auction since we know we have still succeeded in raising money for this cause.
AssangeDAO follows the footsteps of ConstitutionDAO
AssangeDAO debuted on the DeFi platform Juicebox, where it has since surpassed ConstitutionDAO, which debuted in November 2021. After earning over $40 million USD, ConstitutionDAO attempted to purchase one of the last remaining copies of the United States Constitution but fell short of their target.
AssangeDAO was also influenced by the FreeRossDAO, which raised 1,553 ETH in favor of SilkRoad creator Ross Ulbricht. The DAO paid 1,446 ETH for Ulbricht’s complete NFT collection.
