The decentralized organization, ConstitutionDAO had gathered extraordinary funding, exceeding $40 million to bid for a copy of the US Constitution that was to go up for auction on Sotheby’s platform. The entire crypto community had joined hands in donating their drop in the ocean, to win with the tagline, “We’re buying the constitution and it will be governed by the people”. However, in the exclusive turn of events, ConstitutionDAO lost the bid to a Chicago hedge-fund billionaire and Citadel CEO, Kenneth Griffin. His bid of $43.2 million won him the first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution this Thursday.
“While this wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, we still made history tonight with ConstitutionDAO…We are so incredibly grateful to have done this together with you all and are still in shock that we even got this far.”, the decentralized group noted in a message to the community upon losing the bid.
Copy of the US Constitution Will be Available at this Museum
Griffin intends to lend the copy of the US constitution to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., a museum with free admission founded a decade ago by Walmart heiress Alice Walton. While Griffin revealed his plans for the Constitution’s copy, he claimed that his aim was always to ensure mass accessibility of this sacred piece of document, where it can be viewed and appreciated by the people.
“The U.S. Constitution is a sacred document that enshrines the rights of every American and all those who aspire to be…That is why I intend to ensure that this copy of our Constitution will be available for all Americans and visitors to view and appreciate.”, the highest bidder, Griffin said in a statement issued by Sotheby’s.
ConstitutionDAO’s core members denied any comments on Griffin’s winning big, however, they did take to Twitter to jokingly ask “how much for citadel?” Now that ConstitutionDAO has lost the bid, they will refund the entire pro-rata amount back through Juicebox, but, the gas fees will effectively be deducted.