Ep. 15 - ConstitutionDAO Retrospective Pt. 1

Nov 17, 2022

33:21

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In this special series of the Juicecast in celebration of the 1-year anniversary of ConstitutionDAO, Matthew and Brileigh are joined by several former core members including Graham Novak, Alice Ma, Jonah Erlich, Ittai Svidler, and Jon Hillis. ConstitutionDAO was a single purpose acquisition DAO that raised over $40M in an attempt to buy one of the last thirteen remaining copies of the U.S. Constitution at Sotheby’s on November 18th, 2021. What started as a joke in a group chat onboarding thousands into crypto and gave the world a glimpse of the power of blockchain technology, decentralization, and new forms of governance.

In this episode, Matthew and Brileigh trace the chronology of the events that took place from conception up until the auction at Sotheby’s. They also cover the history and significance of the Constitution itself, suggestions for where the document could have been displayed, as well as a last minute request from Sotheby’s that almost prevented the DAO from being able to bid at the auction.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:44 History of the U.S. Constitution

00:01:49 What is the Constitution

00:03:46 1988 auction of the same copy of the Constitution

00:04:38 How ConstitutionDAO got started

00:09:21 End of Day 1, a true heist for public goods at the kickoff call

00:12:05 Communicating with Sotheby's and requirements for bidding

0013:25 Who would “own” the Constitution?

00:14:01 Federal Hall as a bastion of American History & venue for displaying the document

00:15:21 Choosing a fundraising platform

00:17:34 Days 4-6: Money starting to snowball, interviews with CNBC & NYT