Dispatch #62: A DAO Raises $50M to Buy the Constitution

Nov 19, 2021 5 min read

Dispatch

In this patch of your weekly Dispatch:

Arguably the most influential week in DAO history
US political crypto allies try to fight broker definitions
A $100M NEXO Token buyback goes live

The Big Idea

A Game-changing Moment for DAOs?

DAOs have been an idea on the horizon for some time now. Of course, THE DAO was a perhaps inauspicious way for the whole idea to start. Now, years later – despite that hack that led to the fork that created ETH and ETC – the notion of DAOs is more omni-present than ever.

In fact, with the rise of NFTs, DAOs have found a spot-on product market fit. Numerous DAOs have sprung up around NFTs, both focused on specific collections and collectives positioned at the crossing between venture capital and art community.

These DAOs have begun to intersect the real world. Тhis week, something remarkable happened. Something that will almost certainly be seen as a turning point in the history of DAOs. А DAO formed to buy one of the most significant artifacts in US political history – a first-edition printing of the US Constitution from September 1787, coming up for auction for the first time in more than 30 years.

Over the weekend, the community sprang to life. By Monday they had raised over $3M of their goal of $20M. And that number just kept climbing.

By the time the DAO turned off donations on Thursday before the auction:

17,000 people had contributed more than $40M
this unprecedented achievement made news far beyond crypto
it showed just how quickly the crypto/ Web 3.0 community could be mobilized

It was also, unfortunately, not quite enough. The Constitution DAO was ultimately very slightly outbid, later stating that they calculated the absolute max they could do while still having enough of a reserve to properly care for the document. That number was exceeded by the other party.

While the news was devastating to many, the sense of what is possible with DAOs has irrevocably shifted. What will those crazy internet nerds try to buy next? 😍

The Latest In…

Nexo Buyback 2.0

That buyback tho. If you’re a NEXO Token holder, we’re sure you’ve heard the news. Nexo has kicked off a record $100M buyback program for the native NEXO Token, expected to be completed within six months. After the 12-month vesting period, tokens bought as part of the buyback will be dedicated towards investments in strategic targets via token mergers. After completing a few successful acquisitions already, we’ll continue to seek investments in the industry’s most promising players and we’re glad that we can reward our loyal token holders through this second buyback program in doing so.

All in all, major wagmi.

The Latest In…

US Crypto Regulation

The US Joint Economic Committee held a hearing this week titled “Demystifying Crypto.” So, what was demystified? The tone and tenor of the conversation were actually fairly different from previous crypto hearings. No one spouting rhetoric or FUD. Instead, it was mostly a conversation about the right way to regulate. Sounds like progress to us.

Still, others are not happy about the crypto broker provisions in the Infrastructure Bill signed by President Joe Biden on Monday. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden; Congressmen Patrick McHenry and Tim Ryan; and Senator Ted Cruz all introduced separate legislation proposing revisions or repeals of the broker provisions. It’s good to see the allies come out of the woodwork.

The Latest In…

Crypto Around The World

We’ve had lots of occasions to discuss US crypto regulations over the past few months, but let’s also do a quick tour around the world:

Peru is exploring launching a CBDC
China is onto its next phase of its Bitcoin mining ban
India is likely to ban crypto for payments, but regulate it as an asset
Argentina is introducing new taxes for crypto exchanges
Israel has announced new AML rules that may enable banks to serve crypto startups
Swedish authorities wrote an open letter suggesting a proof-of-work ban for environmental reasons
Russia is working on new crypto legislation with an emphasis on mining

The Latest In…

Nexonomics

The $NEXO/ $ETH pair is now available on Balancer! Liquidity mining on the DeFi trading platform starts on Monday, November 22! In addition to offering clients yet another way to purchase #NEXO Tokens, this is part of our #Nexonomics initiative to boost the on-chain liquidity of our native token. Yay!

The Latest In…

Crypto Markets

We’re not going to lie. It’s been a pretty rough week for crypto markets. While Bitcoin ranged as high as $64,000, for the last day or so it’s been closer to $57,000. The usual explanations apply – a blow-off top of overzealous leverage traders following last week’s post-CPI print all-time high; dollar strength and macro insecurity; a cool down after an incredibly bullish Uptober. While short term, there may be some pain, most analysts remain stalwartly optimistic, reminding us that the underlying macro conditions that have driven Bitcoin and crypto for the last 18 months remain in play.

The Week’s Most Interesting Data Story

What’s Bitcoin’s Current Price Floor?

One of the more interesting aspects of market structure is what on-chain data suggests about the floor price of Bitcoin. One way to determine this is to look at short-term holder (STH) realized price or the cost basis for short-term holders. This has historically set the price floor for Bitcoin during bull runs. Currently, that number sits around $53,000. Does that mean that we can range all the way down to that level and remain stalwartly looking forward into bull territory? It’s certainly a useful tool for understanding what the likely psychology of short-term holders is as the price moves.