Over $32,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) Donations Sent to Julian Assange Since his Arrest So Far

Bitcoin as a free speech of money is gaining momentum as more than $30,000 (and counting) worth of Bitcoin has been donated to Wikileaks defense fund since its founder Julian Assange’s arrest.

Yesterday, we reported the arrest of Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had been living for the past seven years. The arrest followed the country’s president rescinding his asylum status.

The eviction of WikiLeaks founder and early Bitcoin supporter caused an uproar across the globe. Edward Snowden, American whistleblower, and fugitive said this arrest is a “dark day” for press freedom.

Images of Ecuador's ambassador inviting the UK's secret police into the embassy to drag a publisher of–like it or not–award-winning journalism out of the building are going to end up in the history books. Assange's critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom. https://t.co/ys1AIdh2FP

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 11, 2019

Assange could face a renewed investigation into an allegation of rape in Sweden as the alleged victim's lawyer said she would do “everything we possibly can” to have the investigation reopened.

The attempted extradition of Australian-born Assange, 47, is primarily stated to be related to the conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in the US for his role in the leaks of government secrets in 2010.

While some are saying “Julian Assange Got What He Deserved,” and others “Whatever you think of Julian Assange, his extradition to the US must be opposed,” and some also want to know “What happened to his cat?,” many are calling out to donate to the Wikileaks defense fund.

Apart from traditional methods viz. cash, cheque, and bank cards, the fund also accepts cryptocurrencies viz. Bitcoin (BTC) and ZCash (ZEC).

Just after Assange’s arrest, the wallet address for the fund’s BTC donation registered a balance of 2.61 BTC with about 20 transactions.

Since then the balance has jumped to 6.3 BTC which at Bitcoin’s current rate of $5,096 amounts to $32,206 and counting.

Assange has been an early supporter of Bitcoin. But back in 2018, Coinbase, a US crypto exchange suspended WikiLeaks’s use of its services even after receiving much backlash. WikiLeaks accused Coinbase of having ulterior positive motives and continued to accept BTC donations rather directly.

Bitcoin is a censorship resistant cryptocurrency that has proven to be beneficial for WikiLeaks as back in 2017, the organizations received more than $4,000 BTC that has been helping it in keep on going.