Analysts at SlowMist have urged investors to deal cautiously with AssangeDAO following recent fund transfers and inquiries about fund destinations.
When a 100 Ether transaction from AssangeDAO’s address went to a recipient who appeared to be connected to the decentralized autonomous organization on March 10, analysts at SlowMist became concerned about a potential “soft rug pull.”
The blockchain forensics company stressed that even though it’s unclear what AssangeDAO’s actual goals are, investors should move cautiously and perform extensive due diligence before doing business with the group.
AssangeDAO gained notoriety in 2022 when it was established to support the release of Australian campaigner Julian Assange, who founded WikiLeaks, a website dedicated to releasing classified material from unknown sources.
Supporters founded AssangeDAO after a 2021 United Kingdom High Court decision about his extradition to defend Assange’s freedom.
Contributions in the cryptocurrency space totalled over $53 million, with a donation from Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, being particularly noteworthy.
The AssangeDAO will use the amount to bid on a unique nonfungible token (NFT) from a drop named “Censored,” created by Assange and digital artist Pak.
While he battles extradition to the US this month, Assange’s defence fund and further awareness activities were to be funded by the sale’s revenues.
With $53.7 million, the Assange DAO became the largest DAO ever to raise money through the community funding hosting platform Juicebox. This was in contrast to the highly successful ConstitutionDAO, which in late 2021 raised $49 million from the community to place a bid on a first edition print copy of the US Constitution.
However, according to a joint investigation by SlowMist and RescuETH, starting in 2022, AssangeDAO transferred most of its cash to several addresses, some connected to cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken.
In addition, the group distributed the money among other addresses by transferring over 1,000 Ether to various anonymous smart contracts. AssangeDAO has not made any public remarks on the subject as of publication.
Analysts at SlowMist emphasized the significance of openness in DAO operations, noting that the recent large-scale fund transfers have raised many questions, particularly about the final destination of the cash.
AssangeDAO revealed on November 8 that sixteen members of Congress had signed a letter requesting that Attorney General Merrick Garland dismiss the unprecedented and risky accusations brought against Julian Assange.
However, on Tuesday, a British court permitted Assange to challenge his extradition to the United States.
