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The arrival of Julian Assange in the mainstream media following his arrest in London on April 11, 2019 was not controversial, not only because of his alleged efforts against the United States, but also because of his for many, represents the death of freedom of the press.
He may have been a pioneer in engineering a new era of journalism, but his badociation with the field of cryptocurrency / decentralization is unknown to many people. Even before thinking of Wikileaks, the Australian played a crucial role in decentralization. Moreover, after the launch of Bitcoin, he was one of the few to believe in a truly decentralized currency.
However, to understand this, we need to go back to his quarrel with the US government and how the struggle to unravel buried truths has propelled a new era in the history of Bitcoin.
Acoustic shock
Wikileaks, Assange's children's project, which has grown considerably after the US government published sensitive information on war crimes in the Middle East, would not have been in keeping with the government's vision.
His reporting on war crimes in Iraq has opened the United States to universal criticism, something that has never happened before on such a scale. Having little to defend their position, the United States had to face the wrath of their own people as they voiced their dissent aloud.
This act made him an enemy of the state almost overnight, forcing him to seek refuge at the Ecuadorian embbady in London. However, his unshakeable conduct marked the dawn of a new society, where every citizen was aware of what his government was capable of doing.
The digital gold rush
However, even good journalism needs money to work. No bank or company would support an organization that has been granted "criminal" status for disclosing "sensitive military" information. All transactions were badociated with a name and risking one's life to find the truth was not the ideal choice, even for the strongest of supporters.
Wikileaks and Assange knew it and their search for an alternative stopped when they met Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin. There was everything they could have asked for: anonymity, speed, no boundaries and value. Inadvertently, Wikileaks was doing the story again. This time, supporting an idea that would eventually become one of the biggest financial movements the world was not ready for, but badly needed.
A tale of flowers and friendship
Julian Assange finding that Bitcoin was not a coincidence. It was a well-calculated and sought-after gesture, unknown to many, it was already part of a movement to bring "financial freedom" to the mbades, the Cypherpunk movement. The movement aimed to use cryptography and powerful privacy tools to bring about social and political change.
His appointment with the movement made him wary of centralized institutions and, according to some information, the founder of Wikileaks would have initiated a dialogue on digital currency, well before the creation of Bitcoin.
This made Bitcoin his preferred choice for financing his project. He even talked about it at a Reddit AMA. He said,
"Bitcoin is an extremely important innovation, but not as most people think. The true innovation of Bitcoin is a globally verifiable proof of publication at a given moment. The blockchain has blurred the story, breaking Orwell's saying: "Whoever controls the present controls the past and whoever controls the past controls the future."
Brothers of arms
Wikileaks began accepting Bitcoin as early as 2010 when Assange understood what the currency was capable of. Although Wikileaks has been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, it has brought Bitcoin into the open. That was the influence of Wikileaks on the fact that Satoshi Nakamoto himself had commented on what Wikileaks accepted as Bitcoin meant for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In a statement from his now inactive account, he said:
Source: crypto-news.in
With more information about Bitcoin and what it represented, it became clear what Assange and Bitcoin were: Resistance. They struggled against the centralized control of value and data, two things that they thought should be free.
Since then, Wikileaks has supported Bitcoin and more recently, Zcash. As donations began to pour in, not only was Wikileaks increasing, but also a relatively unknown player, a valuable decentralized store called Bitcoin.
Since then, Wikileaks has recorded more than $ 30,000 in Bitcoin donations after Assange's arrest on April 11. The extent of their successful partnership is reflected by the sheer amount they received using cryptocurrencies. According to sources, the organization reportedly received more than $ 22 million in Bitcoin and Zcash donations between 2010 and 2017.
Assange even thanked the organization for its financial support. He said,
"My sincerest thanks to the US government, Senators McCain and Lieberman, for pushing Visa, MasterCard, Payal, AmEx, Mooneybookers, etc., to erect an illegal banking blockade against WikiLeaks starting in 2010. This prompted us to invest in Bitcoin – with> 50000% back. "
It is therefore not surprising that many cryptocurrency enthusiasts showed their support for Assange after his arrest. Roger Ver tweeted,
Source: Twitter
Even John McAfee has presented his support to the whistleblower in a response to Ver's tweet,
Source: Twitter
Cobra, co-founder of Bitcoin.org, tweeted,
Source: Twitter
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