ConstitutionDAO's bid for a copy of the U.S. Constitution failed, and over $45 million will be refunded to 17,000 donors

Author: Richard Lee
A "flash action" themed around DAOs has come to an end. Around 8:40 AM Beijing time on November 19, the decentralized autonomous organization ConstitutionDAO's attempt to bid for a copy of the U.S. Constitution ended in failure, with the copy being won by an unidentified buyer for $43.2 million.
ConstitutionDAO is a DAO organization temporarily established for this bidding event. On Thursday, Sotheby's auction house exhibited one of the 500 official copies printed for the representatives of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Currently, only 13 copies exist worldwide. ConstitutionDAO believes that Web3 technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency provide excellent tools for self-governance, making it meaningful to use them to "respect and protect the greatest historical tool of human governance—the U.S. Constitution."

This concept sparked a frenzy in the crypto community. ConstitutionDAO raised over $45 million worth of ETH in just four days. According to official statistics, a total of 17,437 users participated in donations, with a median donation of $206.
After the bidding failure, ConstitutionDAO stated on their official Twitter that they would refund the donating users, proportionally refunding the total amount after deducting gas fees, with specific details to be revealed the next day.
The fundraising activity of ConstitutionDAO took place on the Juicebox platform on Ethereum. Participants sponsored a certain amount of ETH to receive corresponding PEOPLE tokens. According to ConstitutionDAO, PEOPLE tokens are only governance tokens; if the DAO successfully bids for the aforementioned copy of the Constitution, PEOPLE holders do not own a fractional ownership of the copy but can vote on its future storage location, with voting weight determined by the amount of tokens held.
According to ConstitutionDAO's original plan, if they won the auction, the DAO would collaborate with a renowned museum or historical society to display the document in a free public space; if the bidding failed, the DAO would refund all the raised amounts back to the donors' Ethereum wallets through the Juicebox platform. During the crowdfunding period, all funds were kept in a multi-signature wallet managed by 13 people.
ConstitutionDAO is operated by over 30 "core contributors," with their Twitter profile indicating that their identities include entrepreneurs, businesspeople, crypto developers, and one organizer based outside the U.S. ("Berlin, Germany").

Before the auction was completed, the copy of the Constitution was held by Dorothy Goldman, with a pre-auction estimate of $15-20 million. The proceeds from the auction would be donated to a foundation under Dorothy Goldman for civic cultural education.
From the concept release to the fundraising hype, ConstitutionDAO's actions resembled a "flash" event, attracting participants either by the concept of the event or by the belief that the auctioned item could help crypto culture "break out." Aside from the meaning attributed to it by users in the crypto community, if it has any practical value, it may lie in the opportunity for the printed copy of the U.S. Constitution to be exhibited in public venues, allowing more people to see it.
Despite the failure of this auction, ConstitutionDAO still believes that this action holds considerable positive significance and even created history.
"Sotheby's has never collaborated with the DAO community. We broke the record for the most crowdfunding in less than 72 hours. We have educated a whole group of people around the world—from museum directors and art curators to our grandmothers, who, when they read about us in the news, asked us what ETH is—about the possibilities of web3. On the other hand, many of you have learned what it means to manage assets like the U.S. Constitution in museums and collections, or to watch an art auction for the first time," ConstitutionDAO stated.