The constitution of America will soon be in the hands of the people, says ConstitutionDOA. The auction is to be held on November 18, and the estimated sale price is roughly $20 million, confirms Auctioneers Sothebys.
The BBC approached the group regarding the comments on how the ownership would be arranged if the bid succeeded.
Originally the constitution was published in 1787, which was settled at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, printing 500 original copies, of which only 13 known copies remain.
Sotheby says that this is one of the two copies not in an institution’s collection. Therefore, the document should be on public display as per the group.
What does DAO stand for?
DOA is an acronym for Decentralized Autonomous Organization.
The idea of the groups is that the individual’s purchase and the ownership of the constitution document will be recorded on the blockchain. The same technology that is used in cryptocurrency giants Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The Constitution Decentralized Autonomous Organization was formed just a week before the auction. It is soliciting money to buy the constitution document in Ethereum.
The group has declared on its website that it is pooling money together to win this auction.
Previously the website stated to the contributors that they were buying fractional ownership and governance. Therefore, depending upon the contribution by the contributors, the ownership of the artifact will be decided.
The statement has been changed to contributor will not get a share in owning the constitution.
The big question about the ownership was clarified by stating that the contributors will receive governance tokens rather than fractionalized ownership.
In effect, the contributor’s “governance token” could be used to advise the group as to when and how the constitution should be exhibited and decide the mission and the values of Constitution DOA.
A core contributor to the project posted on the group’s Discord social media frequently asked questions (FAQ) document that after the ownership will be restructured by the community after the initial sales according to the group’s mission and values.
The website also assures that the contributors will be refunded if the auction bid is unsuccessful. As the world of cryptocurrency is largely unregulated, there are many risks attached; the threat of hacking or theft of money is mentioned in the FAQ’s. However, the group secured as much as possible and is foolproof to deter hacking or theft of the money. All the funds in cryptocurrency that will be utilized for the purchase are in an e-wallet controlled by 13 core contributors, with transactional approval needed from nine.
Facing regulatory hurdles:
The history of DAO is quite eventful. In 2016, $150 million was raised by “The DAO,” a distributed venture capital organization. Due to a flaw in the code that was used, $50 million disappeared in a hack.
Experts say that the legal status of DAO is unclear.
The DAOs legal recognition as an entity is denied in most jurisdictions, Sotheby said to BBC. Therefore, Sotheby expects DAO to take legal steps to participate in the auction. In order to participate in the auction, the project was formed with a US limited liability company.
Displaying in an exhibition:
To display the constitution publicly, the group is seeking an esteemed partner.
According to the group, the eventual home for the constitution is expected to have the expertise to house, store and adequately maintain the artifact.
Furthermore, the community strongly prefers that the constitution should be free for public viewing and cover the cost associated with the housing of the document.
The proceeds of the constitution document by Sotheby’s auction will be donated to a non-profit group that promotes the understanding of democracy, Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation.
Proceeds of the Sotheby’s auction will go to the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation – a non-profit group that works to promote an understanding of democracy.