The AssangeDAO’s mission is to mobilise a strong solidarity network in support of Julian Assange’s freedom. The AssangeDAO, inspired by the FreeRossDAO (which raised $12 million to free Ross Ulbricht), successfully raised $55 million to bid on Assange’s NFT.
AssangeDAO is a group of cypherpunks fighting for Julian Assange’s release. It is established on the implementation of cutting-edge technology and the decentralisation of trust into something for the greater good.
The Historic NFT Collection is bringing the Crypto Community and Julian Supporters together in a global call for free speech.
The AssangeDAO was able to raise the funds by bidding in Assange and digital artist Pak’s “Censored” NFT auction. The NFT auction featured a one-of-one piece called “Clock” as well as an open piece in which each participant could mint their own NFT.
In an exclusive interview with The Crypto Times, an AssangeDAO developer explains certain titbits of decentralised autonomous organisation, as well as some key points that the community should be aware of.
We had the opportunity to speak with him and are excited to share some exclusive excerpts from the interview.
How did you become a DAO member? What crafted you to join the DAO team?
As a web developer and long-time Assange supporter, I learned about the DAO shortly after a telegram group was formed. I became a member of the telegram group and offered my assistance.
What exactly are your roles and responsibilities as a DAO developer and moderator?
My primary role in the DAO at first was to be a volunteer core developer, assisting in the development of the DAO’s website and aiding in the setup of other technical aspects. Now, I see my role as primarily engaging with the community and assisting the DAO in its growth, as well as using my web development experience to further develop the website.
I am also a moderator on the forum and Discord, where my role is to answer questions and be a resource to the community in any way I can. The great thing about DAOs is that people can get involved in a variety of areas, such as coming up with ideas, making proposals, writing documentation, creating graphics, social media outreach, web development, and more.
How did all of the founders/developers come together? What is the message/point of view of the developers on Julian Assange’s sentencing?
On December 10th, 2021 (Human Rights Day), the DAO founders and developers began mobilising in a Telegram group, which was also the day the US government won its appeal in the Assange extradition case. We found it disgusting that the High Court in the United Kingdom agreed to overturn the magistrate’s court’s decision not to extradite Assange on Human Rights Day, and we knew we had to intervene.
When was the last time all of the developers and DAO members spoke with Julian Assange?
The Assange Family is the DAO’s primary point of contact with Assange. The DAO has no other way to contact Assange because he is in Belmarsh high-security prison in the United Kingdom and does not have internet access. The Assange Family holds public Twitter spaces on occasion to share their and Julian’s thoughts.
What, according to the community, is/could/should be the DAO’s future?
The members of the Assange DAO have just voted that the DAO’s mission must remain to free Assange. Everything the DAO does in the long run must be finally agreed by the community. I anticipate that the DAO will be involved in projects and proposals related to Julian Assange and the things he stands for and values. Whistleblowing, Wikileaks, Freedom of Information, and anything else that could help spread awareness of Julian Assange and bring about his freedom could be included in some of these projects.
There are numerous proposals and suggestions on the Discord channel. Which of these do you think could be implemented/liked/suggested for the DAO’s benefit?
The Julian Assange Award, presented by the AssangeDAO, is a fantastic idea in my opinion. The Julian Assange award could be a yearly award given by the AssangeDAO to someone who has made significant contributions of knowledge/information to society and has also faced hardship or persecution as a result of their work.
I believe that the DAO should present this award on a yearly basis, with a monetary award of $100,000 or $1,000,000.
Have you come across any public proposals that were previously rejected by the Consensus Unit?
The Assange family hasn’t yet turned down any proposals.
What if all $justice with DAO is converted to ETH, but some holders still have $justice?
The total number of $JUSTICE tokens minted was 17,346,154,507. These tokens cannot be ‘converted’ into anything, but they can be swapped/traded on the market. Tokens can be destroyed (burned) if desired, which simply removes them from circulation and provides no benefit.
If the proposal is approved, will developers be able to sell their $justice tokens or ETH?
The developers were not compensated for their efforts. $JUSTICE tokens are currently available on a number of exchanges and can be purchased or sold for Ethereum. Metamask is the most popular platform for buying and selling $JUSTICE tokens.
As we know from Assange Dao, every proposal must first pass through the consensus unit; how do they evaluate them? During an argument, how do all of the moderators reach an agreement?
The DAO was established with a governance layer – the Assange Family. Proposals do not have to go through the Assange Family, but if the Family believes that a proposal could be harmful to Julian Assange or his legal defence, they have the authority to veto (reject) the proposal. The Assange Family is a valuable asset to the DAO, and they have assured the DAO that they are here to collaborate, not compete.
The actions of the founding team have divided the community and fueled accusations that the project is a sham. What do you think about the accusations?
I don’t agree. Our community is not fractured. The Assange DAO’s first proposal on snapshot currently has over 96 percent support, indicating that our mission should remain Freeing Assange rather than changing it to something else. The mission to free Julian Assange has brought our community together. Over 10,000 people contributed to the DAO, and while any group of this size will have some disagreements, our community is only growing stronger.
The sudden price decrease has caused quite a stir in the community. What, in your opinion, caused such abrupt changes, raising concerns about the project as a whole?
The main purpose of the AssangeDAO is not to be an investment DAO, and it has never been advertised as such. With the current $JUSTICE token price, I believe there is a strong incentive for many more people to join and participate in the DAO. Our token holders recently voted to end the minting of the $JUSTICE token, which may provide more price stability because holders now know that no more $JUSTICE tokens will ever enter circulation.
When the DAO treasury has more funds, the DAO could vote to make a large purchase of its own tokens from the market, allowing the DAO to use the tokens in the future. Because all of the minted tokens were distributed to contributors and none were distributed to the treasury or developers, it would make sense for the treasury to purchase some tokens for future projects. This is, of course, a decision for the community and token holders to make. Personally, I believe that rewarding contributors is a good thing, but that is not the DAO’s primary mission.
We know the Dao plans to hire; how will the DAO compensate its new members?
Although it is up to the community, I am not aware of any proposals that involve hiring paid staff. If the community decides to hire dedicated paid staff/developers, I am confident that any future auctions of donated NFTs will adequately fund the treasury. Aside from the Assange NFT, there have been discussions and rumours about other high-profile artists donating NFTs to the DAO.
Is Dao planning to screen the NFT alongside Assange’s story on the big screen?
The NFT is a dynamic clock that automatically updates every day to show Julian Assange’s incarceration time. There are no proposals that I am aware of that involve the DAO producing a film, but I am confident that if the community wanted to, we could fund or produce a film.
In an interview, Gabriel hinted that Julian might consider donating an NFT to the DAO. Is this something real? OR is it just for the sake of causing a stir? It would be wonderful if you could shed some light on the significance.
I’d like to start by saying that AssangeDAO is not a legal entity, but rather a cross-border collective governed by holders of the $JUSTICE governance token. No individual DAO member acts as an agent for other DAO members, and nothing I or other DAO members say should be construed as financial, technological, tax, or investment advice.
Yes, Gabriel Shipton has publicly stated that he has had direct discussions with Julian about creating another NFT soon and possibly donating the NFT to the DAO or at least having some of the funds raised from the new NFT auction flow into the DAO’s treasury.
We’ve been told that Julian is very pleased with the DAO and its achievement of raising more than $50 million for his legal battle, which will not only strengthen his defence, but will also allow his legal team to focus on the offensive for the first time in order to bring justice to those who have illegally spied on and plotted against Julian.
When and how did Pak get involved in everything? What was the community’s reaction? What does the future hold for Clock NFT?
The NFT project was co-created by Pak and Julian Assange. Pak was not directly involved with the DAO; however, when the DAO learned of the Pak/JA NFT that was in the works, the DAO founders approached Pak and informed him of their intention to start a DAO with the first goal of raising funds to max bid on his charity auction.
The project clearly isn’t working as an investment, highlighting the issues with combining activist DAOs with for-profit investing. How does the community view the allegations as a whole? What is the community doing to preclude reoccurrence?
Our DAO’s primary goal is not to make money or to pump a token. However, I believe that as the DAO expands and new people acquire tokens from the markets, the value of the $JUSTICE token will rise naturally.
It is up to the community to come up with unique and creative ideas to raise awareness and support for Julian Assange, and I believe the DAO has only just begun and that amazing thing are on the way.
What is the next action and purpose of the community if everything goes well and Assange is released?
When Assange is released, our primary mission will be completed; however, until the US Government drops its case against Julian Assange, he will most likely have to fight on, as they may try to extradite him again if he travels to another country. When Assange is liberated, the community will decide what to do next.
We welcome all Assange supporters and crypto enthusiasts to join AssangeDAO, you can follow us on twitter at @AssangeDAO and join our discord at http://discord.gg/assangedao – our website at https://assangedao.org will soon be updated with simple instructions on how non-technical people can easily acquire $JUSTICE tokens and become part of the DAO.
