DAO Raises USD 4.6M for the ‘Liberation of Julian Assange’

Sead Fadilpašić
Last updated: | 2 min read
Julian Assange. Source: A video screenshot, Youtube/FRANCE24 English

 

A novel decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) dubbed AssangeDAO is already raising millions to bid on a non-fungible token (NFT) and help WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his legal effort to get free.

So far, the DAO has raised ETH 1,623 (USD 4.6m).

AssangeDAO states that it is “Standing for the Liberation of Julian Assange.“ This group aims to raise funds to help with legal fees and campaigns to “increase public awareness on the systemic failure of our justice systems.”

The website states:

“We, the cypherpunks, are rallying to the cause of a fellow cypherpunk in distress. […] The AssangeDAO intends to raise capital to bid on Assange’s NFT.”

Their effort is similar to and inspired by that of FreeRossDAO formed in early December 2021 in a bid to raise money to free the creator of the dark web marketplace Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht.

Likewise, AssangeDAO began creating a Telegram group on December 10 last year – the day that the US government won its appeal of a British court ruling that barred Assange’s extradition to the US, said the group. Soon, Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton joined and told the group that the WikiLeaks founder is working on an NFT collaboration, which was going to be auctioned to raise funds for his campaign.

As reported, popular digital artist Pak is collaborating with the WikiLeaks founder to release a new NFT collection dubbed ‘Censored’. The collection is slated to go live on February 7, which is also Assange’s court date.

In January last year, a judge ruled that Assange should not be sent to the US to face espionage and hacking charges, but she also refused him bail, stating that Assange “still has an incentive to abscond from these, as yet unresolved, proceedings.”

Assange had been held at Belmarsh prison in south-east London for 18 months leading to that ruling after he was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he sought asylum for seven years.

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