At 17,422 ETH, AssangeDAO Just Smashed All-Time DAO Fundraising Record

• A rare NFT by Pak and Julian Assange has just been bought for $56 million
• The group behind the purchase, AssangeDAO, hopes to raise money for Julian Assange’s legal defense.
• AssangeDAO now holds the record for the highest DAO contribution ever made.

A group of people united in their fight for the liberation of the renowned Australian Editor, Julian Assange, have now raised roughly 17,422 ETH through their decentralized autonomous platform, AssangeDAO. At the latest ETH market value, AssangeDAO raised approximately $56 million worth of Ether, making its DAO rank tops on the list of the highest donations ever raised.

The group had pulled together resources to purchase a joint clock countdown NFT titled ‘Censored’ and released by the renowned NFT artist, Pak, and the embattled WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. The art piece is a ticking time showing the number of days Julian had spent in a UK cell since being arrested in 2019. All funds would go to supporting the release of Assange after close to nine years of running from the authorities.

ConstitutionDAO, an amalgam of people who had united to purchase a rare copy of the US 1776 declaration, first held the record for the highest contributions made, after pulling together over $40 million in November, before getting edged out in the Sotheby bid by a hedge fund manager.

DAOs have grown in popularity since 2021, especially because they represent the ultimate power of decentralization and cohesion in their purest form. Top Crypto maximalist, Mark Cuban, had earlier referred to them as “the ultimate combination of capitalism and progressivism” lauding the potential for such organizations to compete favorably with global institutional investors and revolutionize the crypto space. Some of the top trending DAOs include DecentralandDAO, PleasrDAO, UniswapDAO, FriendsWithBenefitDAO, amongst others.

For AssangeDAO, getting Julian out of prison is paramount. The embattled WikiLeaks founder had become a figure of global concern after leaking documents that reveal secret operations of American troops in Iran and Afghanistan. All efforts to effect a presidential pardon from the ex-US President proved abortive as the latest ruling granted an appeal window to the 50-year-old editor to avert possible US extradition.

The group reported its milestone record was courtesy of the motivation it had gotten from FreeRossDAO, another DAO movement committed to rescuing Ross Ulbricht, who created the silk-road darknet technology infrastructure. FreeRossDAO had raised close to $12 million for the cause.