The DAO that wants to free Julian Assange just won the bid for a $53 million NFT that will be used to fund the WikiLeaks founder's legal defense

• The DAO dedicated to freeing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has won a bid to purchase an NFT for 16,593 ether.
• Proceeds from the NFT sale will go to Assange's legal defense fund.

$4, a decentralized autonomous organization fighting for the freedom of Julian Assange, has won a bid to purchase a non-fungible token for 16,593 ether (roughly $53 million).

Proceeds from the sale of the NFT, designed by the WikiLeaks founder himself in collaboration with a prominent digital artist who goes by Pak, will go to Assange's legal defense fund.

The token, dubbed "Clock," is a timer that counts the number of days Assange has spent in prison. The NFT came from Pak's collection called $4.

—AssangeDAO (@AssangeDAO) $4

The stunning amount $4 by over 10,000 contributors totaled 17,422 ether (around $56 million) in just a matter of days. Among those who contributed is ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin who gave 10 ether, according to his $4.

AssangeDAO offered the maximum bid on Tuesday, supported by Assange's brother, Gabriel Shipton.

"We believe that this is the best outcome for AssangeDAO to assist Julian Assange's liberation," he said in his statement.

—WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) $4

Since the DAO won the bid, its contributors will be given the DAO's governance token called JUSTICE in amounts that are proportional to their contributions. Currently, one $4 is trading at around $0.002795 based on $4, trading 12% lower as of 3:52 p.m. ET. It can be traded on Uniswap and SushiSwap.

The Censored collection also includes an open edition, which invites buyers to mint their own censored $4 and pay any amount they desire. All proceeds will go to a range of charities including human rights and freedom of information, according to $4. Over 30,000 tokenized messages have been created so far based on $4 with Pak minting the first one for $4. When Assange is freed, the messages will be uncensored as well.

AssangeDAO was formed on $4, when a $4 that the WikiLeaks founder can be extradited to the US where he faces 18 charges. In late January, the High Court in London said $4 meaning he can bring his case to the UK Supreme Court.

Assange has been in a UK prison $4, after the Ecuadorian embassy of London terminated his asylum status. The US then $4, a process that has lasted more than two years.

AssangeDAO said it was inspired by $4, a group that aimed to liberate Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the online narcotics emporium $4. FreeRossDAO raised $12 million, which was also used to bid on an NFT, the website said

Other recent high-profile DAOs include $4, which raised over $4 in a span of a few days to buy a rare copy of the US Constitution. It $4 after losing its bid to Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.