- Constitution DAO did not win the auction for the coy of the U.S. constitution last night
- The collective raised $47 million through ETH contributions, breaking a record along the way
- The fundraise showed the power of Web 3.0 and decentralized groups
Constitution DAO, the collective set up to purchase a copy of a rare, first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution at a Sotheby’s auction, lost out to a private bidder yesterday. However, the fact that a distributed collective managed to raise $47 million in a little over a week is a staggering achievement and shows what the cryptocurrency community can do for what it perceives as a good cause. It also raises the profile of Web 3.0, introducing the concept to those who may have never heard of it.
Constitution DAO Broke Fundraising Record
Constitution DAO hit global headlines this week as the novel attempt at distributed ownership and governance of the copy of the constitution became known, with the publicity driving the DAO’s fundraise to hit its target valuation in ETH contributions:
As a result, we’re also officially closing contributions!
We’re almost there, and we definitely couldn’t have done it without everyone. Last stretch!!!! WAGBI 📜📜📜
— ConstitutionDAO (📜, 📜) (@ConstitutionDAO) November 18, 2021
The project raked in almost all the money in the 72 hours prior to the auction, with the Constitution DAO team saying that in doing so they “broke records for the largest crowdfund for a physical object and most money crowdfunded in 72h”.
Valiant Effort Shows Power of the Masses
The auction went ahead last night, but sadly Constitution DAO was beaten to the punch by a private bidder. The winning bid was $41 million, with Constitution DAO saying that bidding over their allotted amount would have left them short of money to properly transport and store the historic item.
We showed the world what crypto and web3, onboarding thousands of people in the process, including museum curators and art directors who are now excited to keep learning.
We were the first DAO @Sothebys has ever worked with, but we’re sure we won’t be the last one.
— ConstitutionDAO (📜, 📜) (@ConstitutionDAO) November 19, 2021
The Constitution DAO team may have not met their primary objective, but if their secondary objective was bringing the concept of the power of a decentralized collective and introducing the concept of Web 3.0 to the masses then they have certainly succeeded in those aims.
