Key takeaways:
- DAO is attempting to purchase a one-of-a-kind print of the US Constitution by trying to generate sufficient cryptocurrency in the form of ether or ETH.
- The first 500 were printed for submission to the Continental Congress. According to Sotheby’s, this was the first appearance of the Constitution in its final form, where the sale will take place.
ConstitutionDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, is soliciting funds for a one-of-a-kind artifact called “500 printings of the US Constitution from 1787” that will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s this week.
On November 18th, 2021, at 6 p.m., a rare original copy of the United States Constitution, possibly received by Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, or George Washington will be auctioned.
The DAO has already raised more than USD 2.7 million, or ETH 574, with more cash arriving every second or so at the time of writing. However, given the copy’s estimated value of USD 15m-20m, there’s still a long way to go. The ConstitutionDAO is attempting to raise enough money in ether or ETH on juicebox to purchase this copy of the United States Constitution at auction. Unlike a traditional technological DAO, there are no tokens in ConstitutionDAO that bring everyone together or give them power over the project’s next steps. In the meanwhile, the group communicates using a dedicated Discord server.
The copy is one of only 13 first-edition copies that have survived and are about to be auctioned. Since it has been in possession of the Goldman family, the 23rd richest family in the United States with a net worth of over USD 13 billion, the print is frequently referred to as the Goldman Constitution. On Discord, one of the project’s architects, Graham Novak, stated. “In keeping with Web3’s ethos and spirit, we want to purchase The Constitution and place it among the world’s finest artifacts, where it can be preserved and enjoyed by all. In addition, we, the people, intend to keep the document safe for future generations. The ownership will, of course, be held by the DAO. In this way, we’ll fractionalize, NFT-ify, and mem-ify.”
FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, has stated that it will convert the cryptocurrency raised by this project into US dollars to execute the purchase, assuming that the DAO will win the auction. Julian Weisser, a member of the ConstitutionDAO, revealed on Discord that the group has been talking with FTX but hasn’t decided about the offer.
Alice Ma, a member of the ConstitutionDAO, recently revealed that the group has also contacted the Sotheby’s team. According to Ma, the auction house advised the DAO to either have a museum bid on its behalf or utilize a limited liability corporation to do so. The initiative is taking both of these suggestions into consideration, particularly the museum option. According to Alice, Sotheby’s will accept the project’s ether (ETH) balance as proof that it has the funds necessary to bid on the auction. However, the project hasn’t revealed how much money it has gathered in total or if it has already surpassed the $20 million barriers.
Some DAOs have recently become proud owners of antiquities, culturally and historically significant artifacts. PleasrDAO, a digital art collective, recently purchased “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” a rare Wu-Tang Clan album for $4 million in bitcoin, demonstrating how it has infiltrated all and beyond the diverse ranges of the domain.
