Tesla and Coinbase investor puts $870,000 into Aragon for digital courts

Billionaire investor Tim Draper has invested in the Aragon blockchain, buying 1 million ANT tokens, around 2.5% of its total supply (currently worth around $870,000). He has also joined Aragon’s board as an advisor.

Aragon, founded by Luis Cuende and Jorge Izquierdo, is a company that creates the framework for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). It provides tools for the management of digital organizations, as well as an online dispute resolution service—and it’s this latter feature that seems to have attracted Draper’s attention.

“You don’t get to create a new jurisdiction every day,” said Draper of Aragon’s digital judicial system in a statement. “After Aragon, the governing of the world will never be the same.”

Who is Tim Draper?

Billionaire VC Draper has previously invested in companies including Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter. He’s also a strong proponent of cryptocurrencies, stating that governments who “mess with currency advancements like Bitcoin run the risk of being left behind.” His attitude is perhaps unsurprising, considering that he scooped up nearly 30,000 Bitcoins from the US government’s auction of Silk Road’s seized assets in 2014. He’s since invested in both the crypto exchange Coinbase and Cuende’s blockchain data certification startup Stampery. 

Draper’s ANT purchase is a decent chunk of money, though it’s nothing compared to Aragon's total funding of $26 million. In the short term it’s proved to be a good investment for him, with his 1 million ANT rising by 13% from $760,000 yesterday to $870,000 today.

Draper’s role as an advisor may turn out to be the more important part of the deal, with Cuende telling TechCrunch that, “If there is someone who can advise on building a new jurisdiction, it’s Tim.” Draper has previously advocated splitting California into six separate states, and became Estonia’s second e-resident.

Aragon Court is in session

The Aragon Court started on February 10, and a mock trial, featuring Ethereum Classic developer Yaz Khoury, commenced shortly thereafter.

Though the court “ruled” in Khoury’s favor, he hit back at the stunt, tweeting that he did not “consent to my name being used like this in an app called ‘Court’. Aragon needs to delete this dispute so we can all move on.”

Aragon has since apologized to Khoury and Gitcoin for "putting them in an uncomfortable situation," noting that failing to ask for consent from the parties involved in the mock trial was a "lapse in judgement."

Just as well it didn't end up going all the way to, er, court.