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AssangeDAO Raises Over $38M to Free Embattled WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange

A newly-formed decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), dubbed AssangeDAO, has been established in honor of embattled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. AssangeDAO is to free its namesake from extradition to the United States, and facilitate his liberation from prison. So far, the initiative has over 12,569 ETH (or around $38.8 million at current prices) from donors since it launched on Thursday.

According to the initiative’s website, AssangeDAO seeks to “inspire a powerful solidarity network and fight for the freedom of Julian Assange.” The donations, which started pouring in on February 4th, will finance Assange’s legal fees. In addition, the contributed funds will bring public awareness to the infamous publisher’s struggles.

Assange, currently incarcerated in a London prison since 2019, is trying to stave off extradition to the United States. This follows a court ruling in December, which overruled a British court ruling barring extradition. On this same day, the idea of establishing an AssangeDAO began to take shape in a Telegram group.

AssangeDAO WikiLeaks Initiative Has Surpassed ConstitutionDAO As Largest JuiceBox Ethereum Raise Ever

According to the media, the community funding platform hosting the campaign, AssangeDAO funds grew exponentially over the weekend. In fact, it doubled over the last 24 hours to arrive at its current total. This is a remarkable achievement and is currently the largest JuiceBox Ethereum raise in history, according to the AssangeDAO Twitter feed, which read:

“AssangeDAO is now the largest JuiceBox DAO raise in History, exceeding that of ConstitutionDAO. Congrats everyone, this seriously exceeded our wildest expectations!”

The previous title holder ConstitutionDAO crowdsourced funds in an attempt to acquire an original copy of the United States Constitution. Despite raising about 11,613 ETH since inception, ConstitutionDAO fell short and looks to refund its donors.

Back then, due to the higher dollar-denominated amount, ConstitutionDAO realized about $49 million, even though it raised less than AssangeDAO in ETH.

Campaign donors receive the JUSTICE governance token, which gives them bidding privileges. AssangeDAO donors will use these privileges to bid on an NFT collection dubbed “Censored” by digital artist Pak in collaboration with Julian Assange.

According to assangedao.org, “Assange faces 175 years in prison for publishing truthful information” upon extradition to the United States. The Australian came to international attention after publishing leaked information through Wikileaks from US Army Intelligence Analyst Chelsea Manning. Shortly after, Assange became a ‘fugitive’ hiding from the US government under asylum status at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. However, after seven years, the Australian’s asylum was revoked and he was ejected and subsequently arrested by the British government. Assange is in London’s Belmarsh prison.

The WikiLeaks founder’s family sees the censorship-resistant nature of BTC as a tool to liberate him. In fact, his half-brother Gabriel Shipton joined the AssangeDAO’s Telegram group and has spoken at the 2021 BTC Conference in Miami.

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AssangeDAO Raises Over $38M to Free Embattled WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange