Wikileaks pioneer Julian Assange’s fight for freedom got a new lease of life when a decentralized autonomous organization [DAO]-AssangeDAO managed to raise more than $37.25 million in a span of just three days.
DAOs, come together for many reasons, such as buying NFTs, bidding on rare items, or purchasing failed brands. AssangeDAO drew inspiration from FreeRossDAO, which organized funds for the release of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht from prison, last year.
As per the website, the group is a collective of cypherpunks fighting for the liberation of Julian Assange. Its strategy? through NFTs, of course.
The DAO’s objective is to bid on a unique NFT created by popular digital artist Pak, who partnered with Julian Assange on the “Censored” collection, which is slated to go live on February 7, 2022. The amount thus collected from the NFT sale would be earmarked to Wau Holland Foundation which has raised millions in donations for Assange’s legal defense since 2010.
In addition to that, it includes members of the Assange family, launched December 10 last year, which coincides with the same day when the ruling that prohibited Assange’s extradition to the U.S. was annulled.
That being said, in the span of just 24 hours, the DAO has raised over 2,675 ETH, nearly $7.8 million, through the funding platform Juicebox. Its leadership says those who donate ETH will receive the JUSTICE governance token in exchange.
For the uninitiated, Juicebox is a decentralized treasury that provides a platform for projects to raise funding from the community all powered by public smart contracts on Ethereum.
Julian Assange, a social activist faces a 175-year sentence if extradited for revealing war crimes & human rights violations including the infamous 2007 CollateralMurder that involved gunning down of civilians, including children and two @Reuters journalists.
About AssangeDAO
According to its website, the group’s top priority is to “fight for the freedom of Julian Assange.” Primarily, they would raise funds to help with his legal fees. In addition, they plan to run campaigns geared towards raising “public awareness on the systemic failure of our justice systems.”
Interestingly the DAO began to mobilize in a Telegram group back on December 10, 2021. Shortly after that, Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton joined the channel informing the group that an NFT partnership with Assange was underway.