Key takeaways:
- Ross Ulbricht, the claimed founder of dark web marketplace Silk Road, has sold his first non fungible token (NFT) at auction for $6.2 million or 1,446 Ether (ETH) after announcing the opening of his “Genesis Collection ” auction.
- In exchange for donor contributions, FreeRossDAO intends to fractionalize the NFT into ROSS governance tokens and distribute them pro-rata. ROSS owners will be eligible to vote on initiatives and contribute to FreeRossDAO’s governance.
With his return, Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, the most revolutionary platform in crypto history, has shaken the world.
Ulbricht resurfaced with an NFT collectibles auction nine years after being arrested and convicted to two life sentences in an attempt for clemency and to support his family.
The auction garnered a lot of attention from a lot of people and organizations just a few days after it was publicized, the majority of them are supporters of Ulbricht and obviously Silk Road fans.
Ross Ulbricht came to popularity as the founder of the Silk Road, a secret market primarily used to trade illegal drugs. Customers regularly receive drugs in exchange for bitcoin from Silk Road vendors. The market has grown in popularity, resulting in sales of 9,519,664 Bitcoin. Ulbricht, who went by the guise “Dread Pirate Roberts,” founded Silk Road when he was 26 years old and ran it until the FBI shut it down in 2013. Then he was sentenced to a double life term and a 40-year prison sentence with no chance of parole.
The auction ended successfully at 1446 ETH ($6.2M) after the winner was chosen. Ulbricht’s collection was won by FreeRossDAO, a new decentralized organization.
PleasrDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization specializing in Ulbricht’s artwork distribution and serving as the Free Ross campaign coordinator, is actually FreeRossDAO. PleasrDAO is run by top-level DeFi and NFT leaders such as Su Zhu, Rober Leshner, and Stani Kulechov.
ROSS tokens, which are intended to symbolize the NFT group’s fractured ownership and governance rights, were promised to FreeRossDAO shareholders. After winning the auction, FreeRossDAO collected 1,446 ETH and left 1,390 ETH; the remaining contributions will be deposited to the FreeRossDAO Treasury, which will be managed by the contributors.
Despite raising more than twice the amount of the auction house Sotheby’s estimate, the high-profile ConstitutionDAO initiative failed to win the historic document. That was due to the fact that it collided with billionaire hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin, who was evidently resolved to obtain the Constitution at whatever cost.
Close associates of Ulbricht and PleasrDAO, who contributed 240 ETH and committed to continue contributing if FreeRossDAO was auctioned, are notable contributors to FreeRossDAO.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms are made possible by DAOs, a cryptocurrency-based governance structure.
A DAO sells cryptocurrency tokens that empower the user to vote on the project’s control. The founders hand over all managerial tasks to the leaderless organization once it is established, resulting in an organization that is free of third-party control.
An automatic voting method oversees all financial choices and rule changes: A rule-change proposal that receives a certain number of votes is presented to the entire organization, and token holders have a certain amount of time — usually a week or two — to vote on it. If the suggestion receives enough votes, the project’s self-executing smart contract will automatically implement it.
The first NFT sold, titled “Perspective,” was created in prison with a graphite pencil and is part of a 10-piece collection of Ulbricht’s writings and artworks. The collection also includes an animated animation depicting Ulbricht’s stay in prison, created by audiovisual artist Levitate and featuring narration by Ulbricht.
Ulbricht auctioned off NFTs on the SuperRare platform, including pencil drawings and poetry, for FreeRossDAO to receive: “Mom’s Dae,” “Dolphin,” “I Hope the War is Over,” “Quicksilver,” “You lookin’ at Me?,” “The Trial I Saw,” “Life in a Box,” “Uncageable,” “Perspective,” and “Death”
Ulbricht thanked people who helped his NFT organization throughout the sale:
“I was very impressed with what is going on right now with the NFT auction,” said books In a tweet on December 6. “I feel… acceptance, love, validation, and many things. You humble me.”
According to NonFungible, Ulbricht’s NFT is among the top-selling items in the last seven days.
