A crowd-funded effort to buy a rare 1787 copy of the US constitution at auction claims to have received more than $13m (\u00a39.6m) worth of cryptocurrency donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group, ConstitutionDAO, says it plans “to put the constitution in the hands of the people”, and hopes to raise at least $20m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it is not clear how ownership will be arranged if the bid succeeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The BBC has approached the group for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Published in 1787, auctioneers Sotheby’s estimates a sale price of up to $20m, when the auction takes place on 18 November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are 13 known copies to have survived from a run of 500 originally printed after the text was settled at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The copy for sale is one of only two not held in the collection of an institution, Sotheby’s says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group wants to put the document on public display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Decentralised’ organising
\nDAO stands for “decentralised autonomous organisation”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea is to enable individuals to come together to make purchases and share ownership, with their transactions and operating rules recorded on the blockchain – the same underlying technology on which cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ConstitutionDAO launched just a week before the auction, and is soliciting money with which to buy the constitution document in Ethereum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On its website, the group says it is “pooling together money to win this auction”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first, the website told contributors they were buying “fractional ownership and governance. You will own a piece of the constitution based on how much you contribute”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That has since been changed to say those who contribute will not get a share in owning the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question “Am I receiving ownership of the constitution in exchange for my donation?” is answered: “No, you are receiving a governance token, not fractionalised ownership”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The “governance token”, the website says, could be used to “advise” on “where the constitution should be displayed, how it should be exhibited, and the mission and values of ConstitutionDAO”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document posted to the group’s Discord social media channel by a core contributor to the project: “After the initial purchase, the community will be able to restructure ownership” in line with the group’s mission and values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The website says there will be “refunds” should the auction bid be unsuccessful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the largely unregulated world of cryptocurrency brings with it many risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FAQ warns of the possibility of hacking or of theft of money, although it says “we have made everything as secure and foolproof as possible given the time constraints”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cryptocurrency funds that will be used to make the purchase are in a wallet currently controlled by 13 core contributors, with nine being required to approve transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regulatory hurdles
\nDAOs have a chequered history. In 2016, “The DAO” – a distributed venture capital organisation – raised $150m, only to see $50m disappear in a hack because of a flaw in the code that it used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legal status of DAOs is also not clear, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sotheby’s told the BBC: “As DAOs are not legally recognised entities in most jurisdictions, Sotheby’s requires DAOs to take certain legal steps to ensure the entity can participate in our auctions at this time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result, the project has formed a US limited liability company in order to take part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On display
\nThe group says that it is seeking “an esteemed partner” to publicly display the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The eventual home must have the expertise to properly house, store, and maintain the artefact,” the group says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Additionally, the community has expressed strong preferences for institutions that are free to the public and willing to cover the costs associated with housing the document.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proceeds of the Sotheby’s auction will go to the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation – a non-profit group that works to promote understanding of democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A crowd-funded effort to buy a rare 1787 copy of the US constitution at auction claims to have received more than $13m (\u00a39.6m) worth of cryptocurrency donations. The group, ConstitutionDAO, says it plans “to put the constitution in the hands of the people”, and hopes to raise at least $20m. But it is not clear … Continue reading “Crypto bid to buy US constitution print raises millions”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3584,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583\/revisions\/3584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}