“Free Assange by any means necessary” is the revolutionary message visible on AssangeDao’s Twitter account inciting fellow “cypherphunks” to help donate to the cause. Assange DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization set up solely to receive donations to help free Julian Assange. The Assange DAO claims on their project page on Juice box that the Assange family is working closely with the DAO, and they endorse its efforts to unite “cypherphunks” across the world.
Their efforts have indeed proven to be very successful as the DAO has currently raised 12,166.79 ETH or around $39 million if accounted at the current price of Ethereum.
Julian Assange, born in Townsville, Australia, in 1971, showed an aptitude for computers early in life. He was then fined several thousand in 1995 after pleading guilty to hacking activities. He pleaded guilty but avoided charges on the condition that he would not re-offend.
In 2006, Assange co-founded the website Wikileaks, along with a group of like-minded people across the internet, leaking government data which caused him to face charges in the U.S later on. Due to these charges, Assange had ended up taking refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London since June 2012, protected by asylum status. For the past three years he has been held on the London’s Belmarsh prison.
The U.S government has recently won its appeal of a British court ruling that barred Assange’s extradition to the U.S.
According to Amnesty.org, if extradited, Assange faces trial on charges under the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The prosecution would put him at risk of human rights violations due to detention conditions that could amount to torture and ill-treatment, including solitary confinement and 175 years in prison.
Further to the appeal earlier this year, the DAO set up their telegram group on December 10th, 2021 to help gain awareness and support. Shortly after the Telegram group formed, Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton joined.
According to their Juice Box project page, the DAO aims to raise $ETH in return for the $JUSTICE governance token to bid on a 1/1 NFT produced by digital artist PAK in collaboration with Julian Assange. Proceeds raised from the NFT Sale will benefit Julian Assange’s defense for legal fees and campaigning to raise awareness on the extradition case.
The raise is now the most significant Ether raise in Juicebox.com according to AssangeDAO’s Twitter feed.