Donating commission earned from the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection NFT back to the Ulbricht Freedom Trust to help Ross win his freedom

Summary

The SuperRare DAO should donate the 260.28 ETH it earned as a commission from the sale of the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection to the Ulbricht Freedom Trust.

Abstract

Ross Ulbricht founded the Silk Road website, introduced hundreds of thousands to crypto, and received an unfair and disproportionate prison sentence of two lifetimes plus 40 years for the actions of Silk Road users. Learn more about Ross’s case here. The FreeRossDAO was created by supporters to purchase Ross’s Genesis Collection, help Ross achieve freedom and to help correct the injustices of the American prison system. Last month, the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection was sold for 1446 ETH to yfimaxi.eth on behalf of the FreeRossDAO.

From that sale, the SuperRare DAO earned 260.28 ETH in the following transactions:

• 216.9 ETH from the primary sale DAO commission
• 43.38 ETH from 3% marketplace fee

This proposal looks to donate those proceeds to the Ulbricht Freedom Trust, which was created to hold and protect funds strictly used to fund efforts to free Ross Ulbricht. The Ulbricht Freedom Trust has already donated 245.8 ETH from the auction proceeds to a Donor Advisory Fund from which it will allocate charitable contributions through its entity Art4Giving.

Ross has been made aware of the possibility that the SuperRare DAO might consider donating the commission paid to SuperRare and wants the community to know how grateful he is for considering this generous support.

Motivation

The process to release Ross Ulbricht is uncertain, time-consuming, and very expensive. The Ulbricht Freedom Trust is dedicated to continuing its efforts to free Ross through various means including, but not exclusive to, legal proceedings and raising awareness. Among actions within its mission, Ulbricht Freedom Trust plans to:

• Continue its habeas corpus case, seek clemency, and pursue other legal avenues to hopefully obtain a sentence reduction
• Fulfill advocacy efforts and spread awareness of the #freeross movement
• Hire necessary personnel to handle social media campaigns, public
relations efforts, and other administrative functions for the
Ulbricht Freedom Trust

Specification

Transfer 260.28 ETH from the SuperRare DAO community treasury to Ulbricht Freedom Trust at (0x106EF958859F8509eCf0F02791724FdFA8F6898c). Lyn Ulbricht will provide, within 12 months of receipt of the donation, an update to the SuperRare DAO and community on the use of the funds and what was accomplished with them.

Benefits

By donating the proceeds to the Ulbricht Freedom Trust, the SuperRare DAO directly supports efforts to free Ross Ulbricht and sets a precedent that it is willing to support worthy organizations in certain cases by donating its commission to the cause.

Drawbacks

The SuperRare DAO community treasury is reduced by 260.28 ETH

Outcomes

This proposal hopes to make any amount of progress toward freeing Ross Ulbricht or reducing his sentence.

Vote

Yes - Donate the commission.
No - Do not donate.

6 Likes

historic sale, historic proposal, and hopefully a historic vote coming soon!

Thank you for your support for Ross and the proposal! I promise it will be put to important use! ~Lyn

1 Like

Hey @LynUlbricht thanks so much for putting this together.

This proposal feels like a great signal that the SuperRare DAO is a proponent of supporting charitable causes on a case by case basis.

I personally am in favor of this commission being given to the Ulbricht Freedom Trust and think it sets a good example for how the DAO is able to move tokens to and from the DAO through governance.

I’d ask that we independently verify that the amounts listed here are the correct commissions incurred, but based on the transactions posted above they seem to be accurate!

Fully in favor of seeing this go from a forum post to a Snapshot vote!

Thanks so much @coopahtroopa for voicing your support of this proposal. Greatly appreciated!

1 Like

I would like to sponsor this. I think it’s great for the community to support Ross and the cause.

1 Like

Nice information thanks for sharing