David Canellis

Julian Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London almost five years ago, when the UK arrested the WikiLeaks founder on espionage charges levied by the US.



He’d spent six and a half years holed up in the embassy, restricted to only 330 square feet. Since then, Assange has been held in a maximum security prison in southeast London, awaiting potential trial in the US.



In 2012, Assange requested asylum after a British district court ruled he should be extradited to Sweden due to a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prosecutors-rape-claim-against-assange-bogus/">spurious</a> rape investigation. Swedish prosecutors later dropped the case after Assange’s arrest in 2019.



Assange must now wait until at least next month to find out whether he can fight extradition to the US over separate espionage charges. Altogether the charges <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/09/julian-assange-dangerously-close-to-us-extradition-after-losing-latest-legal-appeal">carry</a> a combined maximum sentence of 175 years’ imprisonment.



A UK judge had initially blocked US extradition citing concerns for Assange’s deteriorating mental health, but the request was eventually approved in 2022.&nbsp;



WikiLeaks is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/18/the-guardian-view-on-julian-assange-why-he-should-not-be-extradited">considered</a> by many to be a journalistic operation, responsible for some of the biggest information disclosures in history. But the US Department of Justice alleges Assange’s work with whistleblower Chelsea Manning — which culminated in the 2010 publishing of a cache of confidential government files — went beyond journalism and into spycraft.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">To date Julian Assange has spent 1771 days in a UK prison for publishing which revealed war crimes and human rights abuses Assange has spent more than 13 years detained in one form or another If extradited to the US he faces a 175 year sentence in conditions the UN&#39;s torture… <a href="https://t.co/P3QPpDiPsT">pic.twitter.com/P3QPpDiPsT</a>&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a href="https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1760320382018478448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">WikiLeaks X timeline is documenting wide ranging support for Assange’s release</figcaption></figure>



Authorities say the files WikiLeaks released contained sensitive information that put lives at risk. Among the “<a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/01/cablegate-disclosures-have-furthered-investigative">Cablegate</a>” files was a 39-minute video of Apache helicopters during the Iraq war firing and killing a number of civilians, as well as two journalists working for Reuters.



In the days following the video’s release, in December 2010, WikiLeaks suffered what it <a href="https://wikileaks.org/Banking-Blockade.html">described</a> as a “banking blockade.” PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, Western Union and Bank of America suddenly cut off all access to WikiLeaks bank accounts, “destroying 95% of [its] revenue.”&nbsp;



&#8220;This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments,&#8221; Bank of America <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikileaks-usa-bank-idUSTRE6BH0HF20101218/">said</a> at the time. Companies and other organizations keeping WikiLeaks online faced political <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/blog/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-knocked-off-net-dns-everydns">pressure</a> to cease working with the group.



WikiLeaks said the blockade forced it to run on cash reserves alone, and about six months later, the group announced it would accept donations in bitcoin for the first time ever.&nbsp;



Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, who was still active at the time, responded to a <a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/499375/could_wikileaks_scandal_lead_to_new_virtual_currency.html">PCWorld</a> article detailing the potential for Bitcoin as a solution to WikiLeaks’ banking woes with a <a href="https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/bitcointalk/542/">post</a> on BitcoinTalk:&nbsp;



“It would have been nice to get this attention in any other context. WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet&#8217;s nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.”



Nakamoto left their last-ever message on the following day and has not been heard from since.



WikiLeaks’ adoption of Bitcoin represented one of the most concrete justifications for the currency’s value proposition to date. Bitcoin had been around for less than two years at that point and traded for less than $10.&nbsp;



About 3,050 BTC flowed into WikiLeaks’ wallet over the next 13 months leading up to Assange’s arrival at the Ecuadorian embassy. Those donations were worth about $18,000 at the time they were sent. Today they’d fetch upwards of $157 million, thanks to bitcoin’s exponential price growth.



Another 990 BTC flowed into WikiLeaks in the years Assange spent in asylum, valued at $478,000 at their individual times of donation. Those bitcoins would be worth $51 million right now.



The largest individual inflows so far are a 16.99 BTC transaction sent in May 2021 (worth $850,00 then and about the same today) and a 12.23 BTC transfer in February 2022 ($543,00 then, $630,000 now).



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/16896923/embed#?secret=Dgp3UMkske" data-secret="Dgp3UMkske" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Another $162,000 in ether has flowed into WikiLeaks since opening ETH donations in 2018</figcaption></figure>



WikiLeaks eventually regained access to more traditional finance rails, including PayPal and credit cards, through the Wau Holland foundation, which still manages the group’s finances.



But Bitcoiners clearly haven’t forgotten the formative relationship between WikiLeaks and Bitcoin.&nbsp;



More than 35 BTC has been deposited into WikiLeaks’ donation wallet since Assange was ripped from the Ecuadorian embassy in April 2019, cumulatively worth $1.13 million ($1.8 million today).&nbsp;



About 2.45 BTC ($66,100 then, $126,300 now) was sent over the past year, including two individual deposits last June of almost a full bitcoin each. Smaller donations are received every few days, as recently as Wednesday.



WikiLeaks wallets now contain only 3.265 BTC ($168,000) compared to 4,079 BTC total inflows. Overall, it appears Bitcoin users have donated $1.62 million in BTC to WikiLeaks since it opened donations 13 years ago. If held until today, that BTC would be worth $210 million.



As for what WikiLeaks <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/where-did-wikileaks-dollar25-million-bitcoin-fortune-go">does</a> with its crypto donations, the group previously said the funds would pay for “WikiLeaks projects, staff, servers and protective infrastructure.” Last week, WikiLeaks made its first transaction in two years when it shifted 10.459 ETH ($31,200) to another address.



WikiLeaks has however been quiet since it dropped the “Intolerance Network” in 2021, a trove of documents spanning 16 years detailing the formation of influential right-wing campaigning organizations out of Spain.&nbsp;



Assange later <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/julian-assange-wikileaks-belmarsh-prison/">said</a> it was not possible for WikiLeaks to continue publishing while he was imprisoned, partly due to the potential for government retaliation felt by whistleblowers



In any case, Bitcoiners seem ready to continue paying tribute to WikiLeaks as Assange awaits his next legal verdict.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Julian Assange

WikiLeaks’ crypto wakes up as Assange awaits extradition verdict

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_62040843aa780" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“The desire to achieve Julian’s liberation and uphold civil liberties,” drove the spike in donations, AssangeDAO’s core moderator Josh, who goes by the username JB87, told Blockworks</li>
 <li>A clock NFT was bought by the DAO for 16,593 ether, about $53 million, to help fund Assange’s defense and legal fees</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



A week ago, AssangeDAO launched a project to raise money for incarcerated WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange. At the time, it had no funds, yet.



Within the first day of launching, it raised over 67 ether, about $215,000. Fast-forward six days to Feb. 9, and it increased 25,903% to about <a href="https://juicebox.money/#/p/assangedao" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">17,422 ether</a>, or $55 million, on Juicebox — the same platform previously used by ConstitutionDAO in its <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/constitutiondao-shutting-down-after-raising-49m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unsuccessful $49 million bid</a> for an original copy of the US Constitution.



“The desire to achieve Julian’s liberation and uphold civil liberties,” drove the spike in donations, AssangeDAO’s core moderator Josh, who goes by the username JB87, told Blockworks.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="565" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png" alt="" class="wp-image-17123" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=50 50w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-1024x565.png?w=1880 1880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Within the first day of launching, the fund raised over 67 ether, about $215,000. Fast-forward six days to Feb. 9, and it increased 25,903% to about <a href="https://juicebox.money/#/p/assangedao" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">17,422 ether</a>, or $55 million. | Source: Juicebox</figcaption></figure>



Assange is facing extradition from London to the US for 18 criminal charges stemming from WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of secret classified US military files in 2010. He currently resides in a London prison but is seeking the opportunity to have the US Supreme Court hear his case. If he’s extradited to the US, he faces 175 years in prison for publishing the information, the DAO shared.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Assange and bitcoin</h3>



Assange and WikiLeaks have a history with crypto. Wikileaks received contributions through a PayPal account managed by Wau Holland Foundation. The foundation managed most of Wikileaks’ funds, but its account was frozen after facing backlash for releasing confidential information that many disapproved of at the time. The group then incorporated bitcoin donations — way back in 2010 — when it couldn’t raise money any other way.



That was the first time many people heard of bitcoin. The move attracted the attention of the cryptocurrency’s illusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who <a href="https://www.investinblockchain.com/satoshi-nakamoto-wrote-this-about-wikileaks-a-day-before-he-disappeared/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">worried in one of his last public writings</a> that the intertwining of WikiLeaks and bitcoin could hurt the nascent network.



“Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy. You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage,&#8221; Nakamoto wrote.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The Clock</h3>



The funds raised are intended to help fund Assange’s defense and legal fees through an auction of the <a href="https://censored.art/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Censored 1/1</a> Clock NFT (non-fungible token) by crypto artist Pak, in collaboration with Assange.



“The NFT gives the Web3 [and] crypto community a chance to interact with the systems that we are building, and to own a piece of art that Julian himself collaborated on,” JB87 said. “The DAO now owns this piece.”



The <a href="https://censored.art/clock" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Clock NFT</a> was bought by the DAO, a collective of self-described “cypherpunks,” on Wednesday morning for about 16,593 ether, or $53 million, and is updated every day to reflect how many days Assange has been imprisoned.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“This DAO represents the passion and energy that the global community feels towards achieving justice. Not just for Julian, but for the entire journalism industry,” JB87 noted.</blockquote>



As of Wednesday, the community-led DAO had over 16,000 followers on Twitter. The DAO, utilizes the Ethereum blockchain to distribute its JUSTICE governance token to contributors who donated ether. The tokens have no value yet but are likely to appear on decentralized exchanges and will provide community members the ability to vote on governance proposals for the DAO.



“This is tens of thousands of people coming together to show real strength — the Power of the People,&#8221; JB87 said in the AssangeDAO Discord. &#8220;In less than one week, we have shown that decentralised and distributed peoples can band together to fight injustice.&#8221;