From the very beginning of the cryptocurrency movement, Bitcoin’s social potential (bitcoin) has always been one of the fundamental selling points. The decentralized design of crypto-based systems introduces the possibility of bringing individuals together to achieve common goals and enables them to pool resources while remaining free from external control. 2021 presents many cases that serve as evidence of the liberating power of digital assets.

Constitutional DAO: $49M raised in days

Arguably the most high-profile example of a massive fundraising campaign facilitated by DAOs in 2021 is ConstitutionDAO.The group was formed in November with the sole aim of Buy the original U.S. Constitution, sold at Sotheby’s.

The DAO is very close to its goal. The artifact sold for $43.2 million, while the DAO managed to raise around $47 million in ether (Ethereum), its bid was ultimately capped at $43 million by Sotheby’s to account for taxes and costs of protection, insurance and pushing the constitution. After the auction, the DAO offers a full refund to anyone who donates. Those who did not receive refunds kept the PEOPLE governance tokens they received in exchange for their contributions.

As a statement from ConstitutionDAO Say, “While it wasn’t the outcome we had hoped for, we still made history tonight.” It’s hard to argue with that, as it took just one week to raise funds from 17,437 backers.

BlockbusterDAO: Empowering Decentralized Streaming

In December 2021, the founders of BlockbusterDAO announced that they had formed a new Decentralized Autonomous Organization Aim to buy Blockbuster — An American brand that originally operated as a video rental company. At its peak, Blockbuster had 6,000 stores worldwide and was valued at more than $8 billion. It closed nearly all of its operations in 2014 and currently operates just one store in Oregon. Strictly speaking, this move is not expected to be fully realized until 2022.

DAO explained in an article tweet It plans to raise at least $5 million through a non-fungible token (NFT) minting campaign, each worth 0.13 ETH, to rally grassroots efforts to buy Blockbuster. BlockbusterDAO plans to turn Blockbuster into a decentralized movie streaming studio. More than 20,000 netizens are currently participating in the project on Twitter and Discord.

Fortune News PleasrFund: Supporting Journalism Integrity

In September 2021, US business magazine Fortune launched a decentralized endowment with NFT artist Pplpleasr, with proceeds earmarked for independent journalists and projects that promote journalistic integrity.

Fortune News PleasrFund launched on the Ethereum blockchain through Endaoment, A charity-focused DAO. It has allocated 214.55 ETH, worth approximately $680,000 at the time of writing, and represents half of the proceeds from the sale of the limited-edition Pplpleasr NFT commissioned by Fortune.

The four initial beneficiaries of the fund are the American Reports/GroundTruth Project, the nonprofit Journalism Institute, Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders. Each organization received an initial distribution of approximately $165,000 from Fortune and Pplpleasr.

Battle of the Infrastructure Act

Sometimes, lost battles make war history victorious.Hopefully, this is how we’ll remember the crypto community’s backlash against last-minute crypto-related additions $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Interestingly, new tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrency brokers are a big part of the bipartisan agreement that enables ambitious federal spending projects — there are some estimates suggestion This new tax base will help the IRS increase federal revenue by about $28 billion over 10 years.

In response, tech advocacy group Fight for the Future launched a counter-initiative urging U.S. voters call their representative Oppose the crypto provision of the bill, labelling it a “crypto red alert.” Senate offices were flooded with calls, and a list of influencers who publicly opposed the proposed measures included Jack Dorsey, who oversees Twitter and Block (formally Square), and Brian Brooks, the former acting comptroller of currencies, among others. Now at Bitfury.

The resistance has led to a days-long stalemate in the legislature. While the infrastructure bill was eventually passed and signed without any changes to its cryptocurrency-related language, the uproar that the crypto community was able to spark demonstrates its growing lobbying powers.

As former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney put it:

I think what you’re seeing is the maturation of the industry — you’re seeing crypto people now understand how Washington is affecting their world, and Washington understands the technology.

What’s next?

Of course, the above examples are hardly exhaustive of all the crypto-driven social and political initiatives we will see in 2021. For example, there are countless examples of philanthropy, such as the NFT project Trippy Bunny donate all proceeds from its mint sales American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and American Cancer Society Crypto Cancer Fund Launched in January 2021. These examples represent another area where encryption can play a role.

In 2021, the potential for DAOs and crypto-driven political action becomes very clear. But we’re just getting started, and there are plenty of reasons to believe this trend will only get stronger in 2022.