Two days ago on December 2, the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection auction of non-fungible token (NFT) assets kicked off at Art Basel Miami via the Superrare platform. The Ulbricht NFT collection auction ends on December 8, and so far the auction has seen a bid of 666 ether or roughly $2.6 million. Additionally the project Pleasrdao aims to up the ante as the “Free Ross DAO” bidding on the collection has raised 1,042 ether or $4.2 million to date.
Ross Ulbricht NFT Auction Eyes Millions in Ether
During the third week of November, Bitcoin.com News reported on the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection auction taking place at the start of Art Basel in Miami. The auction was initiated on the Superrare NFT marketplace platform and the collection is an assortment of ten artworks by Ross Ulbricht.
“Curated by Entoptic, this is the first and only NFT to include Ross Ulbricht’s personal work,” the announcement detailed. So far, the Ulbricht NFT collection has seen significant demand and to date, Superrare stats show a bidder dubbed “@toxicbitcoinmaxi outbid @starrynight” with a bid of 666 ether on December 3. At current ether exchange rates, that’s more than $2.6 million in USD value.
After the bid of 666 ETH, the Twitter account that belongs to the creative director at Swan Studios, Brekkie, told his 40,000 Twitter followers that Ulbricht’s NFT art was beyond inspiring.
“Ross’s artwork is beautiful and his perspective on life, despite everything, is beyond inspiring,” Brekkie tweeted. “I hope that one day he will gain his freedom, freedom that so many of us take for granted every single day. Yes, I oppose ethereum et al, but we are all humans, Ross even more so.”
On Saturday December 4, 2021, Ulbricht’s clemency petition hosted on change.org is 42,833 signatures away from reaching a half million signatures.
The ‘Free Ross DAO’ Contender
In addition to the bid by “@toxicbitcoinmaxi” on Superrare, Ulbricht’s NFT collection could be purchased by the Pleasrdao project that plans to fractionalize the artwork.
“Ross Ulbricht founded Silk Road, introduced hundreds of thousands to crypto, and received a disproportionate prison sentence of two lifetimes plus 40 years,” the Pleasrdao’s “Free Ross DAO” initiative explains. “Today we unite in solidarity for Ross, gathering funds to buy his Genesis Collection, and protesting the injustices of the American prison system.”
At the time of writing, the “Free Ross DAO” has collectively raised 1,042 ETH or $4.2 million in USD value. The decentralized autonomous organization’s manifesto stresses: “We will Free Ross. We will advance prison reform. We will share Ross’s work with the world and give everyone a unique opportunity to own a piece of it.” Ulbricht too has said that he hoped to lend a hand to his fellow prisoners, and his “art is one way” he can help.
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