ConstitutionDAO

ConstitutionDAO raised $47 million in Ether cryptocurrency, but lost to a bid of $43.2 million in the Sotheby's auction. The organizers of ConstitutionDAO believed that they would have had insufficient funding to "insure, store, and transport the document" if they had made a higher bid.

The organizers said they would refund contributions, minus Ethereum fees. Weeks after the event, around $23 million had yet to be refunded, partly due to these fees, with one contributor reported as having to pay $70 in fees to donate $200, and another $70 to get it refunded. The median contributor had donated $217 to the project,{{cite news |last1=Kastrenakes |first1=Jacob |title=Almost buying a copy of the Constitution is easy, but giving the money back is hard |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/24/22800995/constitutiondao-refund-progress-steep-gas-fees-cryptocurrency |work=The Verge |date=24 November 2021 |language=en |access-date=March 5, 2022 |archive-date=March 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305123617/https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/24/22800995/constitutiondao-refund-progress-steep-gas-fees-cryptocurrency |url-status=live }} and some fees were more than the value of the donation.{{cite news |title=ConstitutionDAO Is Shutting Down After Unrelenting Chaos |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvnze5/constitutiondao-is-shutting-down-after-unrelenting-chaos |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=www.vice.com |language=en |archive-date=March 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305123616/https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvnze5/constitutiondao-is-shutting-down-after-unrelenting-chaos |url-status=live }}

The Verge put the group's effort in the lineage of Internet movements like the GameStop short squeeze earlier that year.{{Cite web |last1=Kastrenakes |first1=Jacob |title=ConstitutionDAO loses $43 million auction of rare US Constitution copy |work=The Verge |date=2021-11-18 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/18/22790452/constitutiondao-loses-auction-for-rare-us-constitution-copy-sothebys |language=en |access-date=2021-11-21 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=December 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227113923/https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/18/22790452/constitutiondao-loses-auction-for-rare-us-constitution-copy-sothebys |url-status=live }} Bloomberg News wrote that the effort "showed the power of the DAO ... has the potential to change the way people buy things, build companies, share resources and run nonprofits."{{Cite news |last1=Kharif |first1=Olga |title=Crypto Crowdfunding Goes Mainstream with ConstitutionDAO Bid |work=Bloomberg.com |date=2021-11-20 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-20/crypto-crowdfunding-goes-mainstream-with-constitutiondao-bid |language=en |df=mdy-all |access-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-date=December 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211210080249/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-20/crypto-crowdfunding-goes-mainstream-with-constitutiondao-bid |url-status=live }}

Another group of crowdfunders named ConstitutionDAO2 formed in 2022 to purchase a different copy of the original constitution, which was to be auctioned by Sotheby's. The group had only publicly raised $313,000 by the time Sotheby's postponed its December 2022 auction,{{Cite web |title=Citing 'Strong Institutional Interest,' Sotheby's Halted Its Sale of a Rare Copy of the U.S. Constitution Just Hours Before the Auction |work=Artnet News |date=2022-12-15 |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sothebys-halts-sale-original-constitution-2230297 |language=en-US |access-date=2022-12-21 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=December 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221194226/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sothebys-halts-sale-original-constitution-2230297 |url-status=live }} though the organization had also raised private funds. The group considered an offer to buy another edition of the constitution from the same printing press.{{Cite web |last1=Mattei |first1=Shanti Escalante-De |title=Sotheby's Sale of U.S. Constitution Is Suddenly Postponed, Causing Uncertainty for Crypto Enthusiasts |work=ARTnews.com |date=2022-12-14 |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/constitution-sothebys-postponed-constitutiondao-2-1234650138/ |language=en-US |access-date=2022-12-21 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=December 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221194851/https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/constitution-sothebys-postponed-constitutiondao-2-1234650138/ |url-status=live }}

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• {{Cite web |last1=Patel |first1=Nilay |title=From a meme to $47 million: ConstitutionDAO, crypto, and the future of crowdfunding |work=The Verge |date=2021-12-07 |url=https://www.theverge.com/22820563/constitution-meme-47-million-crypto-crowdfunding-blockchain-ethereum-constitution |language=en |access-date=2021-12-14 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214190321/https://www.theverge.com/22820563/constitution-meme-47-million-crypto-crowdfunding-blockchain-ethereum-constitution |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite news |last1=Roose |first1=Kevin |title=They Love Crypto. They're Trying to Buy the Constitution. |work=The New York Times |date=2021-11-17 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/business/crypto-constitution-sothebys.html |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |df=mdy-all |access-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121162426/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/business/crypto-constitution-sothebys.html |url-status=live }}

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• {{official website|https://www.constitutiondao.com/}}

Category:Decentralized autonomous organizations

Category:Constitution of the United States

Category:2021 in the United States