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United States

Crypto Nerds Are Trying To Buy the US Constitution (fastcompany.com) 70

The following sentence may sound like the logline for an as-yet unmade National Treasure 3, but it's very much real: A large group of crypto maximalists is banding together in an effort to obtain the actual U.S. Constitution. From a report: Unlike the antagonists in the previous Nicolas Cage movies, this crew might actually succeed. Or kind of, anyway. On Thursday, November 18, Sotheby's is auctioning off "an exceptionally rare and extraordinarily historic" first printing of the U.S. Constitution. Only thirteen copies remain, besides the one located in Washington D.C.'s National Archives museum, from the original printing of 500 that the founders issued for submission to the Continental Congress. It's the first time in 30 years that this one has become available for purchase, following the 1997 death of its last winner, New York real estate developer S. Howard Goldman. It's expected to fetch between $15 million and $20 million in the auction -- unless, of course, it instead fetches the equivalent in Ethereum.
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Crypto Nerds Are Trying To Buy the US Constitution

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  • Sure what the hell (Score:4, Informative)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday November 15, 2021 @02:33PM (#61991003)
    I mean, we're sold it for a lot less than that already.
    • Why doesn't the government just buy it back now?

      I mean they're passing trillion dollar spending bills . . . nobody would notice if they tucked some small change $10 million for a Constitution in one of those bills.

      • US Gov has their own first edition of the constitution already. It's in Washington. Why would they need two first prints?
  • by pak9rabid ( 1011935 ) on Monday November 15, 2021 @02:50PM (#61991051)
    I mean, everything else in this country is seemingly for sale, why not this?
    • Exactly. Buying Congress is the more conventional approach, but why not try this?
    • I like your comment. I'd like to buy it. Is it for sale?

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      You know why the crypto bros want it.

      Whatever they pay for it, that will be a fraction of what the NFT sells for. Why have the physical document when you can have an entry on the blockchain?!

  • He wants some of that luxury cotton toilet paper.

  • The important question is: why to a bunch of cryto-bros want an original copy of the US constitution? I have a few theories:

    1) They plan to turn it into an NFT and resell it.

    2) They want to start their own country and think this will give it some legitimacy.

    3) They want to do "research" and discover what the constitution really says ("Taxes are totally optional, it says so in my original copy of the constitution.")

    • The important question is: why to a bunch of cryto-bros want an original copy of the US constitution? I have a few theories:

      1) They plan to turn it into an NFT and resell it.

      ... and then burn the original, as is the style of the time.

    • by HiThere ( 15173 )

      IIRC in the original US Constitution taxes weren't exactly optional, but they were taxes on the states rather than on the citizens of those states. And it was REALLY difficult to get more taxes approved. (That was part of what was behind large sales of federal lands.)

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      The important question is: why to a bunch of cryto-bros want an original copy of the US constitution? I have a few theories:

      1) They plan to turn it into an NFT and resell it.

      2) They want to start their own country and think this will give it some legitimacy.

      3) They want to do "research" and discover what the constitution really says ("Taxes are totally optional, it says so in my original copy of the constitution.")

      1) isn't likely, there are plenty of pictures of the original Constitution already to make NFT

    • Or... they want to hype their bubble to extend the con. Even the summary is nonsensical... "might actually succeed. Or, kind of" i.e. not actually. Because this is not even "the constitution" it is one of a few remaining first printings. So it's no different from buying a rare baseball card. But they made it to a slashdot story, which was pretty much the actual goal, to continue to convince people that "crypto" is some hip thing, not just the same old cons dressed up in new clothes.

      Note that "turnin

      • Or... they want to hype their bubble to extend the con. Even the summary is nonsensical... "might actually succeed. Or, kind of" i.e. not actually. Because this is not even "the constitution" it is one of a few remaining first printings. So it's no different from buying a rare baseball card. But they made it to a slashdot story, which was pretty much the actual goal, to continue to convince people that "crypto" is some hip thing, not just the same old cons dressed up in new clothes.

        Note that "turning it into an NFT and reselling it" is the same as a con. They buy it. They "sell" it as an NFT. But then they get to keep it too, "holding" it for the owner of the NFT. Hmm sounds like a scam.

        Agreed. I suspect this is more of a PR move. Make a bit of a media splash by "buying the constitution with crypto" and then watch your remaining crypto holdings go up in value (plus some potential income from a series of NFTs based on it).

  • will claim that it proves he is Satoshi Nakamoto.

  • Considering 500 were printed, it's surprising that so few of them remain. I tried googling this and couldn't find any explanation. Especially considering these copies were for specific purposes to those quite interested in the new government.

    Here are where the other remaining copies are located:
    https://csac.history.wisc.edu/... [wisc.edu]

    • remember that not everyone who received a copy thought it was of historical significance. Plus even those who did feel it was worth preserving would not have had access to hermetically sealed containers in climate controlled storage environments.

      We value it now because we can see what came from it. Back when it was printed it was just another sheet of paper espousing lofty ideals that didn't help put food on the table. History and life is filled with things that we now look back on and regret not cherish

    • by esme ( 17526 )

      I don't think it's that surprising - after they served their initial purpose to publicize the constitution, they probably got filed away somewhere and could have been thrown out or destroyed by fire, moisture, bugs, etc., etc. over the years. And once the bill of rights was ratified, the original constitutions were outdated, and newer ones were more current and authoritative.

      The same thing happened to Gutenberg bibles - they were cool when they came out, but within a few decades, better versions were printe

    • I tried googling this and couldn't find any explanation.

      It's obvious when you think about it. Given what has happened since September 11 it's clear the constitution isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

    • 1)The copies were made to be distributed quickly (and cheaply). As such, the choice of materials was as cheap as possible for this purpose, and there were multiple printings.

      2) Little thought was given in preserving these copies. The original, hand written versions have been preserved.

  • by kbahey ( 102895 ) on Monday November 15, 2021 @03:55PM (#61991267) Homepage

    Unfortunately, I see ominous parallels ...

    Rome morphed from a Republic to an Empire ruled by a single despot, yet its troops still carried the SPQR banners. It means "The Senate and People of Rome".

    So in essence the slogan, and laws were a farce, and the actual form of government was completely the opposite of what is written ...

    I hope that wise heads prevail over the rapid deterioration in freedoms, rule of law and sound governance in the USA in the past couple of decades ...

    • Technically the senate was still there. They just always voted for whatever Cesar wanted.

      • by kbahey ( 102895 )

        Exactly ...

        Just like the constitution is also 'there', but it is being ignored, and trampled upon repeatedly ...

    • Those of us who value freedom, rule of law, and sound governance are a minority.

      The masses want their bread and circuses, always of course at someone else's expense. They will vote for whoever will give it to them.

      I don't know what will change that.

      • by kbahey ( 102895 )

        You got it all right ...

        I am not an American, and I am watching from the outside in, with extreme concern and dismay ...

  • It's the idea that is valuable, not the piece of paper it's written on.

    • It's the idea that is valuable, not the piece of paper it's written on.

      You mean the idea that only white men who own property should be able to vote?

      • by JustNiz ( 692889 )

        Interesting perspective given the very first sentence is
        "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

        • There are two errors in your claim:

          1) That comes from the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.
          2) It is in the first sentence of the second paragraph in the Declaration of Independence.

          Moreso, the very person who wrote those words owned many slaves at the time those words were written. There was quite the disconnect between that lofty proclamation and the reality in which it existed. At that time, the reality was indeed that only white land owners could vote.

  • Sell them a picture of the constitution. By the time these fuckwits realise what they've bought, it'll be too late for them to do anything about it.
  • I don't know anything about this particular venture, but I suspect the plan might be to buy it, burn it, and mint an NFT for it -> profit
    • I suspect the plan might be to buy it, burn it, and mint an NFT for it -> profit[.]

      1) Already done by the political donation class.
      2) Biden is working hard on this one.
      3) I don't think anyone that is part of 1 or 2 above would know where to start. But that's fine. After 1 and 2, an NFT would just remind everyone else of the crimes against humanity needed to get here.

  • It's the ideas that are written on it which carry value, and these values can not only be imprinted on other far newer paper, but on the minds and the hearts of those who would believe in its principles, and so cannot ever really be auctioned off.
  • Given the anarchocapitalist principles of both the Republicans and Democrats I can see this actually happening one day. Make America Great Again bring back the corporate tax code of the 1950s. End the trickle up economics policy of Reagan, and end our economic consorting with communist authoritarian oligarchs in China started by Nixon. Make America Great again, bring back the value in middle class labor by ending the utilization of near slave labor that cannot legally represent itself. Democrats, this is ho
  • If it's for sale at all, who buys it and in what currency is irrelevant.

  • Well, twelve now [imgflip.com].

  • To do this just so they have bragging rights just spits on the heritage of this country.

    The original copy belongs in a museum and treated with respect, not in their "man cave" (or whatever).

      I don't want them to ever be able to buy the original copy of the Constitution. However, I will gladly buy a straghtjacket for these deranged clowns.

    • Original copy. - not meaning the original handwritten draft of course, but these still need to be treated with respect.

    • by Pimpy ( 143938 )

      It seems there were 500 prints originally, of which 13 remain. This is just one of the surviving copies. While it may be of historic interest to some collectors, it's still just a copy of a widely available document. As an investment, there's no doubt not unsubstantial upkeep and maintenance costs in keeping it in a controlled environment so it doesn't degrade further. Museums are geared up for that sort of thing, random crypto nerds perhaps not.

  • 20 million For an original copy of the constitution seems like a nothing burger when people are spending 67 Million dollars for a cryptographicly unique hyperlink to an image file.

    • My thought exactly. All it takes it for 2 billionaires to have an interest and $100 million seems reasonable if not low.

      Document signing these days is all photo-op, this is the real deal in terms of globally relevant originals.

Every nonzero finite dimensional inner product space has an orthonormal basis. It makes sense, when you don't think about it.

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