Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

They Love Crypto. They’re Trying to Buy the Constitution

Another update, November 19, 2021, via WSJ: “Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin Outbid a Group of Crypto Investors for Copy of U.S. Constitution. The 53-year-old billionaire paid $43.2 million for the historic document, plans to lend it to Crystal Bridges museum in Arkansas..”

Update – “ConstitutionDAO loses $43 million auction of rare US Constitution copy. The money raised will be returned to contributors.”

Fortune Data Sheet – “The Founding Fathers would be very confused. A decentralized cryptocurrency collective has raised more than $40 million to buy a rare original copy of the U.S. Constitution at auction—and it’s not too late to get in on the action…”

The New York Times – How a “financial flash mob” is trying to raise $20 million for a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution. “In September 1787, a group of delegates gathered in Philadelphia to sign the U.S. Constitution. This week, a hastily organized crypto-collective is trying to buy it. The group, called ConstitutionDAO, is a seat-of-the-pants experiment by thousands of cryptocurrency fans who have pooled their money to make a bid on a rare original printing of the Constitution. The document, one of only 13 surviving copies, is being auctioned on Thursday by Sotheby’s, which estimates it will sell for $15 million to $20 million. News of the group’s bid set off a frenzy of memes, jokes and pledges. The money came in so fast that one observer compared it to a “financial flash mob.” Within 24 hours, the group had raised $4.5 million worth of Ether, the cryptocurrency it is using to solicit contributions. (As of Wednesday morning, it had raised $12.8 million.) Group bids for big-ticket collectibles aren’t new. But ConstitutionDAO is a particularly quixotic example of what’s known as a “decentralized autonomous organization,” a kind of internet-native co-op that is governed with cryptocurrency tokens and blockchain-based “smart contracts” instead of traditional corporate boards and bylaws…”

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.