While ConstitutionDAO lost at the auction at Sotheby’s, they were pioneers who paved the way for many DAOs. They figured a lot out in a short timespan - raising $47 million in 7 days, converting all to fiat, then converting it back.
It was a testament to the power of crowdfunding, raising more money than any campaign on Kickstarter’s history.
Bidding and Incorporation
To execute so fast without incorporating, they used Endaoment to handle bidding at Sotheby’s, which upon winning would have held ownership of the Constitution on behalf of the DAO, with an agreement in place to adhere to DAO votes on what to do with it. Eventually, they would have formed a DAO LLC or non-profit to hold the Constitution.
On ramp
They partnered with FTX to convert between fiat and crypto, and actually converted $47m into fiat and back to crypto for refunds upon losing the auction. Because of the non-profit status of Endaoment, the conversions were tax exempt.
Here is the multisig where you can see some of the action.
https://etherscan.io/address/0xb1c95ac257029d11f3f64ac67b2307a426699322
Dark wallet
The narrative is that everything is public and on chain in a DAO. ConstitutionDAO held a Dark Wallet with an undisclosed amount of crypto reserved for the day of the auction. Even some core team members had no idea how much was in the dark wallet.