Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has sold a non-fungible token (NFT) for nearly $5.8 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) to the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) attempting to free him.
Ulbricht, who received two life sentences plus 40 years without the possibility of parole in 2015 for founding black market e-commerce website Silk Road, sold his collection of artwork and writings at a charity auction to the FreeRossDAO, a DAO formed earlier this month by crypto investors dedicated to his release from prison.
The FreeRossDAO says that over 1,320 people raised 2,800 ETH, worth about $12 million, in seven days to win the auction for the Genesis Collection NFT, which sold for 1,446 ETH ($5.79 million), or about half of its treasury.
Says Ulbricht on Twitter,
“I am floored. The auction exceeded all expectations.
I feel like I have a new purpose now. Lots of joyful work lies ahead.”
According to the DAO, the rest of the raised funds will be managed by the members of the community, who vote on the group’s direction using its native governance token ROSS.
“Once the bid to acquire the Genesis Collection succeeds, contributors will receive ROSS tokens in return for their contributions pro-rata, serving as both fractional pieces of the Genesis Collection as well as FreeRossDAO’s governance token.
Holders of ROSS can vote on proposals and contribute to the direction of FreeRossDAO.”
Ethereum is exchanging hands at $4,020 as of writing, a 2.85% decline in the last 24 hours.
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