AssangeDAO
AssangeDAO Goes Live
The Assange defense fund is raising money to help Julian Assange fight his extradition to the United States, and to help fight for freedom of the press as a principle. Assange has created a 2-part NFT collection called “Censored”, in collaboration with digital artist Pak, one of the highest grossing artists alive:
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Freedom warriors such as Amir Taaki and Assange’s own brother have spearheaded the creation of a DAO that will bid on the NFT collection. Participants in the DAO will receive $JUSTICE governance tokens that will designate fractionalized ownership of the NFT should the DAO win the auction.
“We, the cypherpunks, are rallying to the cause of a fellow cypherpunk in distress”
Over $22 million has been raised by the DAO so far.
The NFT collection is scheduled to go on sale at an undisclosed location on Monday February 7th, coinciding with the deadline his lawyers have to ask the U.K. Supreme High Court to reconsider his extradition to the United States. The 2 parts of the NFT collection include a single edition, dynamic NFT, and an “open-edition NFT”.
The AssangeDAO is similar to the FreeRossDAO: The FreeRossDAO successfully won ownership over Ross Ulbricht’s artistic works, and raised over $12 million to help Ross’s case and his fight to help the families of incarcerated people. Both Ross and Assange have been accepting donation for their cases for many years, but by offering something in return via these NFTs and DAOs, they were able to raise vastly more money overnight. That’s the power of DAOs and NFTs.
Julian’s brother and advocate, Gabriel Shipton (whom we interviewed on CryptoBeat Live), considers this to be an historical moment for liberty.
We could not agree more. We’re grateful to everyone who has given this effort their support.
Visit the FreeAssangeDAO today if you’d like to support the cause.
India’s Ongoing Crypto Battle
Indian Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced on Tuesday that the country will tax digital assets at a 30% rate, meaning that all profits from the sale of virtual assets would have this additional 30% without any deductions or exemptions. They also announced a 1% tax, deducted at source (TDS), on all cryptocurrency trading.
Whether or not that applies to NFTs is still up for debate, however. The 2022 Finance Bill defines NFTs as a “...digital asset as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify". This vague statement seems to broadly indicate that the Indian government retains future power to impose taxation of NFTs at will, according to their own criteria.
Shehnaz Ahmed, senior resident fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, said:
"Unlike the definition of crypto assets , which is clearly laid out in clause 3(b) of the bill, what qualifies as an NFT will be set out in a notification to be issued by the central government. One has to wait to understand if the notification sets out the broad features of NFTs or specific categories of NFTs."
Some predict that India is using broad language so that they may exclude certain types of NFTs in the future.
One of India’s senior lawyers said:
"… the government may want to stay away from currencies in vogue on Silk Route. [It] may specify only the most popular NFTs, the most frequently traded or they may go by volume, class or type."
Sitharaman also said this week that India intends to release their own CBDC “sooner rather than later”. China and Nigeria have both introduced their own CBDCs as tools of financial surveillance and control, which seem to line up with India’s general attitude towards crypto.
Diem Has Been Unfriended
Meta’s (née Facebook’s) multimillion-dollar attempt to create their own cryptocurrency is officially over. Meta had planned to launch their own USD-backed stablecoin, the Diem, but have confirmed that their assets have been sold to Silvergate for $200 million.
Diem, fka Libra, went through a complete rebrand that included changing their name (see our article) and enduring multiple congressional hearings on the legality of a social media giant launching a digital currency. The tremendous government pushback led to the project being delayed years, and now it has stopped altogether.
CEO of Diem, Stuart Levey, said in a press release that the decision was made because it “...became clear from our dialogue with federal regulators that the project could not move ahead”. As of this writing, Meta are still using and developing their Novi wallet, which is currently using the Pax Dollar (USDP) Stablecoin as a temporary digital currency.
Former head of Meta Cryptocurrency Efforts, David Marcus, already left the project after the Libra debacle last year, and has now announced his resignation from Meta altogether by the end of this year.
Meta have promised not to enforce their now defunct cryptocurrency patents against other crypto developers, by joining COPA: the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance. Members of COPA pledge not to use their patents offensively and instead “pool their crypto-patents to form a shared patent library”. This move rings well with Jack Dorsey, who is an advocate for a free and open Web3.
Back Like a Heart Attack
The US federal government is once again considering enforcing know-your-customer (KYC) rules on un-hosted and self-hosted crypto wallets. First proposed in 2020 by the US anti-money laundering organization FinCen, the rule would require crypto exchanges to collect personal information on its customers in order to complete crypto withdrawals from centralized, custodial services to private wallets. Advocates at the time said that the rules would be impossible for certain wallets to comply with, and that this type of scrutiny was too much of a burden to the individual consumer. The pushback was able to table the discussion at the time, but it has unfortunately reared back its ugly head now that the Treasury Department is under new leadership. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in the semiannual agenda of regulations, announced that the rule will now be considered again:
"FinCEN is proposing to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to require banks and money service businesses (MSB) to submit reports, keep records and verify the identity of customers in relation to transactions involving convertible virtual currency (CVC) or digital assets with legal tender status ('legal tender digital assets' or 'LTDA') held in unhosted wallets, or held in wallets hosted in a jurisdiction identified by FinCEN," the document reported.”
The agenda only outlines priorities for the Treasury Department over the next six months, not actual rules that will be implemented, but the crypto world is already bracing for its impact by implementing things like the controversial AOPP protocol.
Another topic on the agenda is that The Federal Reserve and FinCen plan to define “the meaning of money” as it applies to digital assets under the Bank Secrecy Act. This is a long overdue determination that will have long-standing ramifications on how legal tender digital asset transactions will be treated (as compared to fiat transactions). The document stated:
"The Agencies intend that the revised proposal will ensure that the rules apply to domestic and cross-border transactions involving convertible virtual currency, which is a medium of exchange (such as cryptocurrency) that either has an equivalent value as currency, or acts as a substitute for currency, but lacks legal tender status."
As with all things regulation, reaching out to your local representative to let them know how you feel is a great way to make sure that the voice of the crypto industry is heard.
Get Ready for the A0K1VERSE!
Famed DJ, record producer, and EDM star, Steve Aoki, is translating his love and enthusiasm of everything digital into literally a whole new world he has called the A0KIVERSE.
Steve Aoki has been a huge fan of blockchain and digital assets — specifically NFTs — since early days. He created and released his first NFT collection, Dream Catcher, in collaboration with 3D illustrator Antoni Tudisco in March of 2021 to a successful windfall of $4.25 million. Recently he and comic book author, Todd McFarlane, launched their own digital NFT marketplace, OddKey. He even interrupted his own concert last month to announce his acquisition of a very rare Alien NFT by Doodles.
The A0KIVERSE has been described as, “a new ecosystem bridging real-world experiences with web2 and web3 by rewarding NFT collectors and creating new experiences for members”. Members of the club will carry, collect and use “AOK1 Credits” (which are ERC-1155 NFTs) for access to things like concert tickets and collectibles (both of which are said to have both digital and IRL versions).
Early access to Aoki NFT releases are also being promoted as well as future cross-promotional events with other famous artists (Steve has a long history of A-list collaborations, which bodes well for these future cross-promotions). While some are skeptical of the many ramifications of Web 3 and the Metaverse, Steve Aoki has fully embraced the “fun” aspect of just what is possible. It's exciting to see where his creativity will take us!
By Will Sandoval, NBTV Associate Producer, and Naomi Brockwell.