A newly formed DAO is raising money to free Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from extradition to the United States. Going by the name “AssangeDAO,” the pot has already raised over $38 million in ETH since it launched on Thursday. According to assangedao.org, the DAO’s stated goal is to “inspire a powerful solidarity network and fight for the freedom of free speech advocate Julian Assange.”
The funds will go towards financing Assange’s legal.
Driven by a community of cypherpunks, the funds raised will help finance Assange’s legal fees while campaigning to increase public awareness of his struggle. They will also raise awareness about the “free speech implications of his case.” As shown by Juicebox – a site for creating project funding using DAOs – AssangeDAO has raised 12,575 ETH at the time of writing. Given the surging crypto market in the last few days, that alone is worth approximately $39,000,000. This officially makes it the largest Juicebox Ethereum fundraiser in history, surpassing the “ConstitutionDAO” it was partly inspired by.
Assange faces 175 years in prison if extradited to the US.
Later last year, the United States won an appeal against a British court ruling that prevented Assange’s extradition to America. The AssangeDAO began to assemble on Telegram the same day. “If extradited to the United States, Assange faces 175 years in prison for publishing truthful information,” reads the site. Assange became a figure of international attention after publishing leaked information through Wikileaks from US Army Intelligence Analyst Chelsea Manning. He then began hiding from the US under asylum status at London’s Ecuadorian Embassy but was ejected from it after seven years. Assange has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison for three years and has become an icon of free speech across the globe.
