A newly formed decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) called AssangeDAO has been raising funds to use towards fighting for the freedom of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
AssangeDAO, formed by “a collective of cyberphunks”, has currently given up, raising over $7.5 million from Ethereum in its efforts to free Assange.
According to its blog, the DAO first came together in early December, recognizing the day that the U.S. government won its appeal of a British court ruling that barred Assange’s extradition to the United States.
“We are convinced that the DAOs are a powerful coordination mechanism that cypherpunks can use to free Assange,” the blog post read.
Pak x Assange ‘Censored’ NFT Collection
In efforts of reaching its goal, AssangeDAO is raising funds for individuals to bid in an upcoming NFT auction that centers around a collection between digital artist Pak and Assange himself.
The NFT Collection, dubbed “Censored,” will launch on February 7, according to the DAO’s Substack, and consists of a 1/1 Dynamic NFT and a Dynamic Open Edition that anyone can participate in.
The proceeds raised from the NFT sale will go towards “the Assange Defense fund for legal fees and campaigning to help raise awareness on Assange’s extradition trial.”
$JUSTICE token
Similar to the defunct ConstitutionDAO, AssangeDAO also provides each participant with a proportional share of its governance token – $JUSTICE.
$JUSTICE holders, according to the blog post, will be able to vote on governance proposals.
Assange, who has been imprisoned for most of the past three years, was arrested in 2019 in London and charged with leaking classified US government documents by WikiLeaks. Currently, Assange is behind bars in the UK, where he is fighting US attempts to extradite him from the country. If extradited, he could spend up to 175 years in prison.
Crypto DAOs on the rise
Crypto DAOs are increasingly gaining traction within the industry since the ConstitutionDAO movement tried to purchase a very rare copy of the US Constitution.
Although the group was unable to purchase the desired hardware, the development brought a lot of attention to what a crypto community could achieve. An exciting aspect of this was the fact that the community governance token saw its value increase after the owners managed to redeem their contributions.
Another autonomous organization labeled as FreeRossDAO has also tried to raise funds to secure the release of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road online marketplace. At the time, it raised over $12 million in ETH to bid on an NFT collection.
