On February 3, the group began accepting ether donations on crypto crowdfunding platform Juicebox, eventually raising some $52 million. In exchange for their contributions, all donors received cryptocurrency $JUSTICE tokens, which give holders a voice in how AssangeDAO’s resources are used. That element, Taaki says, makes the DAO mechanism more effective at raising funds than just asking for direct donations in dollars or crypto. “Simple donations don’t work,” he says. “But if you give a little incentive, that’s the extra incentive.” Taaki says the AssangeDAO was the perfect way for cypherpunks to come together to “liberate the original cypherpunk: Assange”.
Leading up to the auction, the group debated whether to bid less for the project and set aside cryptocurrency for other Assange-focused projects, but in the end it went all in: AssangeDAO’s winning offer – 16,593 ETH – was $40 million. higher than the second highest bid, of the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken†
Assange’s history is checkered: he was investigated for sex crimes in Sweden, hid in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition, and was accused of distributing material hacked by Russia’s GRU. But Noa says whatever people think of Assange, the charges against him are a “travesty” and pose a greater threat to “press freedom and whistleblower protection”.
Stella Moris, a lawyer and the partner of Julian Assange, says the DAO “provides a new model for political prisoners and provides support.” She says she hopes others will follow in her footsteps.
Initially conceived as the cryptocurrency industry’s flawed response to Kickstarter, DAOs were used to raise capital for cryptocurrency startups, while donors got a stake through custom tokens. Now they are also evolving into devices to orchestrate other types of collective action — from activist to political to erratic. Last year, shortly before the FreeRossDAO, the ConstitutionDAO raised $47 million in a failed attempt to buy an original copy of the US Constitution (which was eventually picked up by a hedge fund manager). In 2018, Taaki, who fought with the Kurds against the Islamic State in Syria in the 2010s, announced plans to establish an academy of hackers well-versed in cryptography and revolutionary techniques. He says he will likely launch a DAO to fund that project.
These new types of DAOs can still have a problem in certain cases: crypto backers who decide to participate run the risk of being exposed. Although widely touted as completely private, the most popular cryptocurrencies are in fact pseudonymous and leave a permanent trail that in some cases can lead to a user’s identity. “At the moment the process is completely transparent. That might be okay for something like ConstitutionDAO, but when it comes to something like AssangeDAO, it creates a risk for both donors and organizers,” said O’Leary.
At a cryptocurrency conference in Lisbon, Portugal, in October 2021, Taaki and O’Leary unveiled a project called DarkFi – a play on words about cryptocurrency-powered decentralized finance, or “DeFi”, which would provide stronger anonymity features for cryptocurrency and DeFi. users. DarkFi strives to make DAO crowdfunding completely anonymous, minimizing any risk associated with supporting controversial causes or figures. “We will have DAOs and auctions that are completely anonymous — where no one can see what’s happening,” Taaki says.
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