In cash terms, AssangeDAO has now raised $47.1 million at current ETH prices — and funds are continuing to trickle in from Ethereum addresses around the world.
A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) "fighting for the liberation of Julian Assange" has raised more than 15,000 ETH.
Funds are being collected through the decentralized platform JuiceBox — and in the space of five days, the campaign has broken records for the site's largest DAO raise in history.
That crown was previously held by ConstitutionDAO, which ultimately was an ill-fated attempt to buy a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution. Tens of millions of dollars were raised to compete in the auction, but the group were outbid by a hedge fund manager.
In cash terms, AssangeDAO has now raised $47.1 million at current ETH prices — and funds are continuing to trickle in from Ethereum addresses around the world.
Organizers say that the funds will be used to defend Assange, who is currently in a British jail and fighting extradition.
He is wanted in the U.S. after WikiLeaks published hundreds of leaked classified documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — and according to WikiLeaks, Assange could face a 175-year jail term. Prosecutors allege that lives were endangered by the material entering the public domain.
The DAO — described as "a collective of cypherpunks" — says its efforts have been endorsed by Assange's family. Those behind the organization say they started to mobilize in a Telegram group back in December 2021.
AssangeDAO says it was inspired by FreeRossDAO, which raised a total of $12 million to support Ross Ulbricht. He is currently serving two life sentences and 40 years without parole for creating the Silk Road darknet marketplace.
Ulbricht's supporters claim that his sentence, which condemns him to die in prison, is unfair given how he was not convicted of selling drugs himself — and argue that those who did sell illegal substances received far more lenient jail terms.
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Assange's Next Steps
Last month, Assange was given permission to take his legal fight against extradition to the U.S. to Britain's highest court — but the Supreme Court must agree to hear his appeal first.
Now 50, Assange claimed political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London back in 2012 — and spent nearly seven years there. He secretly fathered two children while he was inside, according to his partner.
Since being dragged out of the embassy in 2019, he has been held in the high-security Belmarsh Prison.
