The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), which maintains the legal position of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, has completed its fundraising by generating a whopping 17,422 Ether (ETH), worth roughly $53.7 million.
As previously reported, AssangeDAO intends to use the fund to bid on a one-for-one NFT from a blob called “Censored” created by digital artist Pak in collaboration with Assange. Proceeds from the sale will go to Assange’s defense fund and additional awareness campaigns as he fights extradition to the US this month.
For the past three years, Assange has been languishing in a British prison, while US prosecutors are trying to try him on charges of espionage. Supporters say Assange is a whistleblower, journalist and publisher.
BREAKING: Nearly $55M ($54.2M/17,422 ETH) has been raised by over 10,000 @AssangeDAO members in defense of #WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange at the end of the funding cycle. The fund is now available for bidding on the @muratpak ‘Clock’ auction: https://t.co/d0vHsPWhkA— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 8, 2022
At the time of writing, Park and Assange’s 134 One-For-One NFTs have a current maximum bid of 4,242.42 Ether ($13 million) and the auction was due to close later today. The NFT fundraiser was launched on February 7, which was also the deadline for Assange’s lawyers to oppose his extradition.
The $53.7M Assange DAO amount is the largest ever raised from a DAO using the Juicebox community hosting platform, supplanting the widely popular Constitution DAO, which raised $49M from the community in late 2021 to bid on a copy of the 1st edition hard copy of the United States Constitution.
More than 10,000 people supported the fundraiser, demonstrating strong support for Assange and the transparency-related values he and Wikileaks stand for.
Just donated 10 ETH to @AssangeDAO. It’s a shame to our society that exposing war crimes dooms you to rot in jail.pic.twitter.com/ZNWUTVuRFe — Martin Keppelmann (@koeppelmann) February 4, 2022
Park spoke to Artnet earlier this week and stressed that the Assange case was exactly what they were looking for as the message behind their latest downfall:
“I like to create different mechanisms for conveying my messages. For ‘Censored’, the drop needed a good reason and Julian was the perfect fit.”
“The biggest message, as usual, is censored,” they added.
Related: Wonderland treasure trove saga reveals fragility of DAO projects today
The Censored drop also includes an open edition with unlimited circulation for a set period of time, and Park stated that the proceeds will be donated to organizations “for freedom of information, digital privacy, education, health and human and animal rights.”
“In other words, whatever gets censored ends up back with the people,” they said.
