Rescue Assange? Speculators are gathering AssangeDAO, with current fundraising exceeding "People"

Author: Kyle / Editor: Wenda

Original Title: "Rescuing Assange? Speculators Gather at AssangeDAO"

Rescuing Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is a sufficiently large goal. This controversial figure was wanted for leaking U.S. government scandals and was imprisoned in a London jail after being sheltered by the Ecuadorian government for nearly seven years. The U.S. government has been trying to extradite him, and finally, on December 10 last year, the UK High Court ruled to allow the extradition, which could result in Assange facing up to 175 years in prison in the U.S.

On the day this ruling was announced, AssangeDAO, named after Assange, was established. On February 4 this year, the organization emulated the previous ConstitutionDAO and FreeRossDAO by launching a fundraising campaign on the token issuance tool JuiceBox, hoping to raise funds to bid for an NFT co-released by Assange and artist Pak, with the proceeds from the NFT sale intended for Assange's legal defense and protest activities.

As of February 7, AssangeDAO had raised 12,660 ETH, surpassing the 11,613 ETH raised by ConstitutionDAO (People), approximately $38.8 million. Due to the previous surge in the governance token of People, which increased dozens of times, benefiting donors significantly, this high-profile fundraising attracted a large number of speculators, keeping AssangeDAO's popularity high in recent days.

However, at this time, AssangeDAO was embroiled in internal chaos due to the failure to release JUSTICE. Previously, the initiators of the organization had promised in the community that there would only be one round of fundraising, but they opened a second round, leading to donors being unable to claim JUSTICE, raising suspicions about whether the initiators would "run away."

A more dramatic scene is that, according to many donors' expressions on social media, they do not care about the goal of rescuing Assange and are even completely unaware of Assange's background, only hoping to speculate and make money in this round of fundraising. In the eyes of Twitter KOL "dahuzi.eth," AssangeDAO is filled with a large number of speculators, making the opportunity to profit seem bleak, "Who will pump the price?" is a question.

AssangeDAO's Fundraising Exceeds "People"

AssangeDAO has recently sparked another wave of fundraising. This decentralized autonomous organization named after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a crypto-punk group fighting for Assange's liberation, aiming to raise ETH to purchase a 1/1 dynamic NFT created in collaboration with digital artist Pak and Assange.

According to the official website of AssangeDAO, the dynamic NFT is minted using the manifest.xyz smart contract and will be auctioned by Pak on a dedicated website. The proceeds from the NFT sale will benefit Assange's legal defense fund and advocacy activities to raise awareness of the impact of his case on freedom of speech.

AssangeDAO's widespread attention is closely tied to Julian Assange's personal background and controversies.

Assange was originally an Australian journalist who founded the WikiLeaks website in 2006. In 2010, the site began to expose a massive trove of secret documents regarding the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, including videos of U.S. troops' airstrikes in Baghdad and documents related to toxic waste dumping in Côte d'Ivoire. These damaging exposures put the U.S. government in a significant controversy.

Following a series of leaks, the U.S. government launched a criminal investigation against WikiLeaks. On November 30, 2010, at the request of the International Public Prosecutor's Office in Sweden, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for Assange on charges of sexual offenses. On December 7, Assange surrendered to the London police but denied the allegations. In 2012, Assange was granted political asylum by the Ecuadorian government and spent seven years in the embassy.

However, in 2019, the Ecuadorian government expelled Assange under the pretext of a scandal and reached an agreement with the UK to arrest him. Subsequently, Assange was held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison. During this time, the U.S. government has consistently sought to extradite Assange.

In January 2021, a UK district court rejected the U.S. extradition request on the grounds that Assange faced a high risk of suicide if extradited. However, on December 10, the UK High Court overturned the previous ruling and allowed the extradition after the U.S. made another request. If extradited to the U.S., Assange could face up to 175 years in prison.

On December 10, AssangeDAO began to take shape in a Telegram group. Shortly after the group was established, Assange's brother, Gabriel Shipton, joined and continued to protest and lobby for Assange's release.

Until February 4 of this year, following the previous fundraising to bid for a copy of the U.S. Constitution by ConstitutionDAO, AssangeDAO launched a fundraising campaign on the token issuance protocol JuiceBox, claiming to raise funds to bid for a 1/1 "Julian x Pak co-branded NFT," with the proceeds from the NFT sale aimed at efforts to free Assange.

AssangeDAO raised 12,660 ETH

On February 7, AssangeDAO's fundraising ended, having raised over 10,500 ETH. Subsequently, it opened a second round of fundraising, and as of now, the organization has raised 12,660 ETH, surpassing the 11,613 ETH raised by ConstitutionDAO (People), approximately $38.8 million, similar to People.

For every 1 ETH donated, donors receive 1 million governance tokens, JUSTICE. Due to the previous surge in the governance token of People, which increased dozens of times, benefiting donors significantly, this high-profile fundraising attracted a large number of speculators, keeping AssangeDAO's popularity high in recent days.

AssangeDAO's Failure to Issue Tokens Sparks Controversy

According to the roadmap released by AssangeDAO regarding the planned funds, after bidding for the relevant NFT, AssangeDAO will use the proceeds from the NFT sale to help Assange fight extradition to the U.S. If the DAO does not win the auction, all funds will be returned to users after deducting gas fees through JuiceBox.

This fundraising and refund process had already been seen in the failed auction of the U.S. Constitution copy by ConstitutionDAO. However, regarding the issuance of JUSTICE tokens, the initiators of AssangeDAO did not fulfill their promises, and their flip-flopping behavior sparked considerable controversy.

According to community members, the initiators of AssangeDAO had stated during the first round of fundraising that there would only be one round of donations, but after the first round ended on February 7, they immediately opened a second round of donations. After the second round began, first-round donors were still unable to claim their corresponding JUSTICE tokens, leading to strong dissatisfaction among community members.

AssangeDAO's second round of fundraising has caused community dissatisfaction

Crypto community KOL "Jieni Jun" sarcastically referred to AssangeDAO as "Schrödinger's DAO" to describe the organization's unstable state. Although the organization has raised a large amount of ETH, it has not yet issued tokens, causing many donors to worry. Jieni Jun raised doubts, "Whether they run away or not, that's the question."

Another industry insider analyzed that even if AssangeDAO raised a large amount of funds, liberating Assange still seems like an impossible task. "For more than a decade, the U.S. has never given up on sanctioning Assange. Under such determination, relying solely on funds to rescue Assange is unrealistic."

In fact, among the users participating in this fundraising, some people have no idea who Assange is and are not interested in freeing him at all; making money through speculation is their primary goal.

In discussions related to AssangeDAO on Twitter, many users expressed concerns about not being able to obtain returns, and some even wanted to form a rights protection group to reclaim their invested funds.

The users' concerns are not unfounded. Previously, FreeRossDAO, which aimed to release the founder of the dark web market "Silk Road," briefly attracted attention, but soon after, the governance token FREE plummeted, dropping 64% from its fundraising cost, and the goal of releasing Ross Ulbricht seemed to be forgotten.

In the AssangeDAO fundraising event, on one hand, the difficulty of liberating Assange is very high; on the other hand, due to the gathering of speculators, it is also not easy to profit from it.

Crypto community KOL "dahuzi.eth" believes that the previous success of People in returns cannot be simply replicated because People initially gathered a group of genuine donors who recognized the U.S. Constitution, and there were not many speculators. In contrast, the donors of AssangeDAO are more profit-driven, "So the question arises, a bunch of people all entered at the same price, where is the demand? Who will pump the price? In the end, it will just become a game of who runs first."

Additionally, this KOL stated that the difference between AssangeDAO and People lies in the short auction cycle for the U.S. Constitution copy; if unsuccessful, a refund can be obtained to protect the principal, whereas the timeline for rescuing Assange may stretch out for a long time, and as time passes, users wanting to exit with their principal may face uncertainties.

Although the amount of ETH raised by AssangeDAO has surpassed that of "People," the prospects of this DAO remain uncertain when considering the difficulty of the target mission and the behavior logic of the donors. Currently, AssangeDAO has damaged its credibility, and the panic and dissatisfaction among donors are gradually accumulating. Once JUSTICE is released, selling pressure will be inevitable, and donors will enter a "race to exit" game.