<\/p>\n
AssangeDAO may be the most successful example of a single-use decentralized autonomous organization to date, even with all of its shortcomings.<\/p>\n
Drawing a direct line between its fundraising efforts and the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange isn\u2019t totally practical. But the DAO did do something very tangible: It raised $56 million in ETH for Assange\u2019s camp.<\/p>\n
It was a huge sum. Taking a page<\/a> out of FreeRossDAO, another org launched in support of imprisoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, AssangeDAO used the crowdfunded ETH to buy an NFT<\/a> it minted in collaboration with digital artist Pak.<\/p>\n The NFT is tied to an image of a clock counting the days Assange was being held awaiting potential extradition. It is still the second-most valuable NFT ever bought, behind only Beeple\u2019s $69.3 million Everydays: the First 5000 Days<\/em><\/a> token.<\/p>\n AssangeDAO forwarded the proceeds to the Wau Holland Stiftung, a nonprofit launched in 2003 as an homage to the co-founder of the hacker collective Chaos Computer Club. The stiftung began facilitating donations to WikiLeaks after boycotts from Mastercard, Visa and PayPal in 2012 \u2014 a blockade that led WikiLeaks to open up for bitcoin donations, an event considered a hallmark moment in crypto history.<\/p>\n AssangeDAO contributors were rewarded with a governance token, JUSTICE, which could be used to vote on which direction to take the DAO (one proposal to branch out from its core mission was overwhelmingly shot down).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But the group was reportedly<\/a> plagued with disagreements. A leaderless structure led to a sense of directionlessness and the DAO quickly split up following the departure of some core members.<\/p>\n To this date, the wallet that received AssangeDAO\u2019s donation continues to make withdrawals. (The value of the ETH withdrawn is shown in light purple on the chart above, dark purple shows the current treasury balance, and the pink line shows the performance of the DAO\u2019s token).<\/p>\n The initial raise happened in February 2022, and after two rounds of outflows of around $2 million each in the following three months, the address initiated a steady stream of 150 ETH ($507,000) withdrawals almost every week, which ran until markets picked up again last October.<\/p>\n Outflows have slowed since then. Still, $7 million in ETH has flowed out of the Wau Holland address over the last seven months or so, during which time the British High Court ruled that Assange could appeal his US extradition, leading to his plea deal and release this week.<\/p>\n At least some of those funds have ended up on Kraken and Coinbase \u2014 as is to be expected despite some claims<\/a> \u2014 but it\u2019s unclear exactly what the Wau Holland fund has done with the crypto.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stella Assange, Julian\u2019s wife, posted an \u201cemergency appeal\u201d on X overnight<\/a> in hopes of raising $520,000 to cover chartered flights to Saipan and later Australia, to which crypto lawyer and AssangeDAO founding member Silke Noa suggested that the Wau Holland foundation could front the bill, considering that\u2019s why the funds were initially raised.<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, it\u2019s still assumed that Wau Holland has directed its outflows on legal and other costs associated with securing freedom for Assange. A press release stated<\/a> the foundation had spent 16 million euros ($17 million) in support of Assange and that it would guarantee his flight to Australia.<\/p>\n It hasn\u2019t been explicitly confirmed that those funds refer to the ETH raised by the NFT sale, and they could include separate crypto donations made to WikiLeaks<\/a> over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n In light of JUSTICE tripling in price over the past few weeks, one wonders the current status of the DAO and whether it might make a comeback.\u00a0<\/p>\n Co-founder Harry Halpin told Blockworks that \u201cthe Assange family, particularly his brother Gabriel Shipton, has been active in AssangeDAO but obviously Julian, Stella, Gabriel and the rest of the family deserve some time to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n Halpin added: \u201cAfter a suitable time for rest and recovery with his wife and children \u2014 that Julian has been so cruelly taken from by the USA for so many years \u2014 I hope Julian will join the DAO himself. I do not track any price actions, as I think the price of justice for Julian Assange is beyond value.\u201d<\/p>\n In any case, with the benefit of the doubt, AssangeDAO was clearly triumphant in its mission, at least, far more than ConstitutionDAO was in buying a rare copy of the US constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s see if the same can happen for Ross Ulbricht.<\/p>\n \u2014 David Canellis<\/em><\/p>\n Tell \u2018em how you feel.<\/p>\n FTX creditors can soon vote on the distribution plan proposed by debtors, after the latter received the green light Tuesday in a bankruptcy hearing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty fair to say the plan isn\u2019t a total fan favorite<\/a>, though lawyers have told Blockworks that it\u2019s a \u201cgood outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n Creditors previously said the plan, which would pay folks back in cash versus in-kind (meaning the crypto they had on the exchange at the time of the bankruptcy), inherently means losing out on potential gains because of how much crypto has rallied since the collapse.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, FTX lawyers at the hearing noted that large stakeholders haven\u2019t objected to the plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n Creditors, however, have countered, saying the plan doesn\u2019t make the outcome clear. Proponents have suggested that folks will be made whole\u2026 though that\u2019s not wholly true in this case, but we\u2019ll get to that shortly.<\/p>\n Reuters reported<\/a> that CEO John J. Ray said the crypto simply isn\u2019t there to return<\/a>, echoing what we reported back when the plan was proposed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe fund they amassed to repay creditors is really based more on liquidation of securities holdings\u2026and other recoveries from third-party claims and selling off other assets,\u201d Jonathan Groth, partner at DGIM Law, told me in May.<\/p>\n Blockworks co-founder and Empire<\/a> host Jason Yanowitz made a very fair and astute point last month: the apparent marketing strategy around the plan proposal lured mainstream media in with flashy numbers, which they then touted as a win. Though \u2014 aside from putting FTX to rest once and for all \u2014 that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n \u201cSullivan & Cromwell, which has already made some $180 million from the bankruptcy, is smart \u2014 they\u2019ve pursued a tactful PR strategy to get ahead of the negative creditor narrative,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe goal: convince the mainstream media that paying customers back at 118% represents a success.\u201d<\/p>\n In all fairness, it does <\/em>look like a win\u2026until you compare the actual crypto prices. The 118% return that many customers are set to receive is based on the price of crypto in November 2022, not the price of crypto now, as bitcoin hovers around $61,000.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also pretty different<\/a> from other crypto bankruptcies, with some returning smaller amounts of crypto back to customers.<\/p>\n Anyway, creditors won\u2019t receive the funds at today\u2019s crypto prices \u2014 Judge John Dorsey shot down<\/a> that idea (proposed<\/a> by creditors at the beginning of this year) a few months ago, arguing that it\u2019s against bankruptcy code.<\/p>\n Next steps are for the ballots to be formalized by mid-August, which would mean that the estate seeks final approval of the plan in early October.\u00a0<\/p>\n So the floor is about to open for folks to give their two cents. After speaking to lawyers and hearing from other creditors, I\u2019m curious to see what the larger base has to say about this \u2014 and if the big numbers were enough to sway some people.\u00a0<\/p>\n Perhaps people are ready to put this whole saga behind them at whatever cost. It\u2019s clear that the wider crypto environment is, at least.<\/p>\n \u2014 Katherine Ross<\/em><\/p>\n Q: What is crypto missing?<\/em><\/p>\n Remember yesterday when we said that retail isn\u2019t here right now?<\/p>\n Yeah, we need them back.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not talking about the family members who were convinced to buy in at the height of FTX, only to watch everything collapse two years ago. I\u2019m talking about the folks who started hearing about crypto and wanted to test the waters.\u00a0<\/p>\n And I\u2019m also talking about the retail investors who were just building out a portfolio made up of both crypto and equities. I miss those guys.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maybe with enough time and enough demand, they\u2019ll be back, but their absence is evident this cycle. Bring on their return.<\/p>\n \u2014 Katherine Ross<\/em><\/p>\n Wordle, but make it NFTs.<\/p>\n Just kidding.<\/p>\n On one hand, there are a ton of incremental and not-so-incremental technical updates that could greatly benefit certain parts of the ecosystem: DeFi can do with better atomic swaps and Solana could too with a new validator client in Firedancer.<\/p>\n But those will just bring crypto more of the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, here\u2019s a jaded answer: Crypto doesn\u2019t need anything. In fact, it needs less things.\u00a0<\/p>\n Let\u2019s just go back to when Kickstarter-style fundraises and buying dumb stuff on the internet were the killer apps and call it a day.<\/p>\n \u2014 David Canellis<\/em><\/p>\n Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nData Center<\/h2>\n
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