An online auction looking to fund the legal defence of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has raised over $52 million. A report revealed this news earlier today, noting the auction involved the sale of an NFT collection, Censored. Assange partnered with crypto artist Pak in the NFT project.
According to the report, the auction ran from February 7 through 9. The centrepiece of the sale was an NFT dubbed Clock. This NFT displays the number of days Assange has been in prison on a black and white background. Reportedly, the NFT updates the time Assange has served with each passing day.
Clock sold for a whopping 16,593 Ether (ETH), approximately $52.8 million, earlier today. The NFT’s buyer was AssangeDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which comprises over 10,000 Assange supporters.
AssangeDAO’s community leader, Joshua Bate, praised the DAO for winning the bid, saying,
“This is tens of thousands of people coming together to show real strength – the Power of the People. In less than one week, we have shown that decentralised and distributed peoples can band together to fight injustice.”
Creating “Censored” NFTs
Apart from Clock, the Censored auction allowed Assange followers to create NFTs. This process involved supporters agreeing to pay a specified amount to type a customized text. The words were struck through (to show censorship), and the creator converted the image into an NFT.
Per the report, Assange’s supporters helped raise over 671 ETH ($2.1) million after creating 29,766 censored messages. These funds went to pro-freedom organizations that Assange and Pak chose.
Assange continues battling extradition
Currently in a London prison, Assange is fighting against his extradition from the UK to the US. American authorities want him to face trial for 18 criminal charges. Among the charges against Assange include breaking a spying law. Specifically, WikiLeaks published thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables in 2010.
In January, Assange got a chance to challenge his extradition to the US. All that remains is for the British Supreme Court is to decide whether it will hear his case or not.
