I am (kind of) buying the US Constitution. Want to join?
I am (kind of) buying the US Constitution! Exciting, right?
I say “kind of” because I’m not directly buying the US Constitution. I am one of many contributors pooling money together to raise enough to win the upcoming auction at Sotheby’s. If we win, I will be part of the governing body that will make decisions regarding this copy of the US Constitution.
Is this not making any sense?
Let’s start from the beginning.
Today, November 18, 2021 at 6:30 pm EST, Sotheby’s is putting up one of the original US Constitutions for auction. There are only 13 remaining in the world, and this is the first time in 33 years that one has been put up for auction. The proceeds will be donated to a charity the current owner has established.
It is expected to be sold at around $15M to $20M. A high price the vast majority of people cannot afford.
Until now.
Enter ConstitutionDAO
ConstitutionDAO is raising money from the masses to bid, and hopefully win, the auction.
To understand what this means, we need to break down what a DAO is.
A DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization. That means there is no one person or central group of people in charge. The members of the DAO are the ones that make decisions.
Additionally, the rules of a DAO are open and transparent, as are its transactions.
What does this look like?
ConstitutionDAO is a great example. You can become a member of the DAO by contributing money to the purchase of the US Constitution. If the auction is won, everyone who contributed will receive governing tokens that correlates the amount of money they donated.
We don’t know exactly what this structure is like for ConstitutionDAO just yet but as an illustrative let’s say ConstitutionDAO raised $100 for the auction and used all of this money to place a winning bid of $100. If you contributed $1, you would receive 1% of the tokens. That’s because you contributed 1% of the money used to purchase the US Constitution.
You would use these tokens to vote on what happens to the US Constitution. For example, if there were two options presented with where to put it:
Put it in New York History Museum
Store it in a vault
Since you own 1% of the tokens, your vote would count for 1% of the overall outcome. Any decision that would be made regarding the US Constitution, you, and everyone else who is a member of the DAO, would have input.
ConstitutionDAO puts it nicely:
“Decentralization and cryptocurrency (web3) have created structures that allow people to self-govern with unparalleled levels of autonomy and freedom. It’s fitting that we use this technology to honor and protect the greatest historical tool for human governance: the U.S. Constitution.”
Basically, the decisions are made by the people.
Pretty fitting, wouldn’t you say?
If I contribute, will I own part of the Constitution?
Unfortunately, no. While this was the original intent, there are security laws that disrupted this plan. However, the governance token ($PEOPLE) that I described above will give you a voice on all of the decisions made in regards to the US Constitution if the auction is won.
How much has been raised?
As of right now, over $40M.
Yes, you read that right, $40 million dollars.
And it’s not stopping there. In fact, the contribution pool is only increasing. We won’t know the final amount until the last moment of the auction, but as of right now, it’s predicted that ConstitutionDAO will win.
This is cool!
Yes this is cool but this is also a sign of something bigger. It shows the power of web3 and the crypto community. It’s also incredible to watch a group of people come together to make history.
If you watch the comments people are posting when contributing the project, it’s really quite moving. People are finding meaning in this project. The idea of partly “owning” the US Constitution is powerful.
It’s also an awesome opportunity to try out web3 if you haven’t already. But if you want to contribute, you need to do it NOW.
Interested? This is what you need to do ASAP:
Make a crypto wallet. I use MetaMask
Add funds to your wallet. If you don’t own ETH, you’ll need to buy some by doing the steps below:
Make a Coinbase account and link your bank account
Put money from your bank account into Ethereum (Here is a step-by-step video)
Send the funds from your ETH account on Coinbase to your MetaMask or other digital wallet (Here is a step-by-step video)
Click “contribute” and allow your wallet to connect
Contribute whatever amount you feel comfortable with but LOOK OUT FOR GAS FEES! They can be very expensive so be sure to watch out.
And now, we wait. We wait to see if we win the US Constitution and then we vote with the rest of the community to determine what we do with it.
Pretty exciting stuff!
Please reach out to me if you have any questions or challenges at caylinmay51@gmail.com