Wikileaks Bitcoin Donations Spike with Arrest of Julian Assange

[Coin-1]

7 years! Damn. Just saw the news and was surprised that he had these many charges against him(Molestation, Rape etc) of which some were dropped already while some others are still pending.

I think that the US government have no intentions to ever release him out in the open ever again.

I agree. I'd be shocked if he's ever released - his only hope is a pardon from a president way ahead in the future. It's also surprising it took 7 years to finally nab him.

It's because the government of Ecuador take him as political asylum seeker, but since they withdraw Julian political asylum status, he was nabbed in the embassy by the UK Police. I think the US is hell bent of getting him into the prison and shut him up for good. Maybe they can used the bitcoin donations for good, but I don't know if it is enough for him to salvage his freedom though.

To be honest, I was surprised to hear that Julian Assange has been arrested a few days ago. He lived in this embassy without walking the streets or parks for so long, and in fact now the government of Ecuador has decided to give him to the UK police.


It should be noted that the second-last post of satoshi on the forum was related to Wikileaks:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3;sa=showPosts

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

I do not know whether Julian Assange is a good or bad person, but he is quite famous in the world. I hope that all his rights will be respected.

[Ucy]

Wikileaks bitcoin donations have spiked due to the recent arrest of Julian Assange:

https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/04/11/julian-assange-bitcoin-wikileaks/

While some do not like the association between Wikileaks and bitcoin, this story does highlight the decentralized nature of bitcoin.

I noticed the spike few days ago with many unconfirmed transactions on their segwit address.

It's just unfortunate he couldn't disguise himself and escape the embassy to then  seek for asylum or something.

[amishmanish]

I think Julian Assange did a big service to the world by showing factual proof of how corporations and Govts manipulate narratives. It resulted in shaking up of the "Too big to fail" mentality to quite a large extent.

Now that he has been given up by Ecuador, he'll be up for trial. I do wonder that if the US Courts decide that his whole operation in the form of wikileaks was against national security and a criminal act, would the bitcoin donators be considered as enablers for the crime?  It would take a lot of convoluted logic to do that but you never know, the authorities could try it as a "two birds with one stone" thing.

This is just one of the potential scenarios when anonymity becomes very important and KYC becomes extremely dangerous.

[Mastercon]

It's kinda sad to see the capture of Julian Assange. As per CobraBitcoin Bitcoiners owe them a huge debt, and should speak up about what's happening to Assange. However, I feel a similar way! We should perceive how it plays out.

Really its sad for you ?. A guy got arrested due to illegal activity like rape, Molestation, breaching and don't know how much charges on it. No matter who owe him who not, He just did wrong with peoples money and break the law. He deserve it

[Kakmakr]

No matter how much money they received and how good the lawyer/s they hire it won't matter as long as the evidence is compelling enough to prove him guilty. The thing is of he is really innocent at all he wouldn't be seeking asylum in Ecuador in the first place, it only has dig his grave deeper by hiding out from the government this long. Wikileaks really took advantage of the situation here and they have received a considerable amount to help Assange.

Nope, you are missing the point here....  Julian Assange exposed a lot of things that the US government wanted to hide from the world. The US government were left red-faced and they are butthurt now, so they will throw everything they have at him. They have to make an example of him now, like they did with Ross Ulbricht with Silkroad. 

Once you go up against the government and you expose their corrupt dealings, they will never stop hunting you. WikiLeaks was the single biggest source of embarresment for the US government for years now. 

[Lucius]

Assange is for some reason decided to leave the embassy of Ecuador, maybe 7 years in house arrest it was too much for him. When I say he decides it, I think of his actions against Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno in which some documents have been published on WikiLeaks, where the president is accused of a corruption scandal. Work against somebody who gives you asylum does not make any sense, unless you want someone to quit asylum.

It should also be emphasized that Ecuador is ask from UK that Assange can not be extradited to a country that has a death sentence, which was allegedly approved. In that case the possibility of extradition in USA should not exist, and the procedure itself could last for years.

Fact that Donald Trump say that he do not know nothing about WikiLeaks is very interesting, especially if we look at his previous statements :

Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system! // This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove

So maybe Trump will in some way soften his administration on this issue.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-12/donald-trump-administration-pressing-charges-julian-assange/10995934

[Sithara007]

It's kinda sad to see the capture of Julian Assange. As per CobraBitcoin Bitcoiners owe them a huge debt, and should speak up about what's happening to Assange. However, I feel a similar way! We should perceive how it plays out.

Really its sad for you ?. A guy got arrested due to illegal activity like rape, Molestation, breaching and don't know how much charges on it. No matter who owe him who not, He just did wrong with peoples money and break the law. He deserve it

Anyone with an IQ of more than 50 is able to understand that those charges are totally cooked up. I pity on you. The real reason why he was arrested was because he exposed the American treachery towards its own allied nations. The CIA was phone-tapping leaders such as Angela Merkel, and Wikileaks exposed this truth to the general public.

[1Referee]

It's just unfortunate he couldn't disguise himself and escape the embassy to then  seek for asylum or something.

It's near impossible to escape when all eyes are literally pointed at you. It wouldn't surprise me if there were agents located very near the building to capture him if there was ever an escape attempt. The risk isn't worth the 'safety' he enjoyed within the embassy. On top of that, every bit if data going in and out of the embassy might be filtered, so even if he uses TOR and whatnot, he always has to assume that whatever he ends up doing, agencies very likely know what's going on.

I'm not necessarily for or against Assange, but it's quite interesting to see how popular he and WikiLeaks are within the Bitcoin ecosystem. The donations they received in Bitcoin throughout the years are mind bogglingly high.

[Baofeng]

It's kinda sad to see the capture of Julian Assange. As per CobraBitcoin Bitcoiners owe them a huge debt, and should speak up about what's happening to Assange. However, I feel a similar way! We should perceive how it plays out.

Really its sad for you ?. A guy got arrested due to illegal activity like rape, Molestation, breaching and don't know how much charges on it. No matter who owe him who not, He just did wrong with peoples money and break the law. He deserve it

Anyone with an IQ of more than 50 is able to understand that those charges are totally cooked up. I pity on you. The real reason why he was arrested was because he exposed the American treachery towards its own allied nations. The CIA was phone-tapping leaders such as Angela Merkel, and Wikileaks exposed this truth to the general public.

Obviously, this is politically motivated. We all know that the West is really aching to get their hands on Assange for all he has done in exposing them. And I'm sure he will be facing extradition to the US for the supposedly crimes he committed. Ecuador though revokes his asylum status, they said he also try to spy the country that given him asylum,  but we will never known the truth.

I'm speculating that Moreno was elected in 2017, and after two years, they suddenly gave up on Assange. So for me giving him up has something to do with having a strong ties with the West specially US, so there is some politicking behind.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ecuador-rafael-correa-lenin-moreno-strips-wikileaks-julian-assange-asylum-status/

[tomahawk9]

Assange is for some reason decided to leave the embassy of Ecuador, maybe 7 years in house arrest it was too much for him. When I say he decides it, I think of his actions against Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno in which some documents have been published on WikiLeaks, where the president is accused of a corruption scandal.

You're wrong, Wikileaks didn't publish the documents. The INA Papers, the documents accusing Lenin of corruption, were published in a website called inapapers(dot)org. Wikileaks only tweeted (a month later) about the allegations of corruptions against Lenin citing the aforementioned website. Hell, the whole thing started because some ecuadorian journalists started digging about Moreno's offshore companies.

Because of this tweet, the Ecuadorian govt assumed it was Wikileaks who leaked the documents and used it as an excuse to expelled Assaled from the ecuadorian embassy, probably to avoid any backlash from the US against Lenin Moreno in case the corruption allegations are true.

[Sithara007]

Assange is for some reason decided to leave the embassy of Ecuador, maybe 7 years in house arrest it was too much for him. When I say he decides it, I think of his actions against Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno in which some documents have been published on WikiLeaks, where the president is accused of a corruption scandal.

You're wrong, Wikileaks didn't publish the documents. The INA Papers, the documents accusing Lenin of corruption, were published in a website called inapapers(dot)org. Wikileaks only tweeted (a month later) about the allegations of corruptions against Lenin citing the aforementioned website. Hell, the whole thing started because some ecuadorian journalists started digging about Moreno's offshore companies.

Because of this tweet, the Ecuadorian govt assumed it was Wikileaks who leaked the documents and used it as an excuse to expelled Assaled from the ecuadorian embassy, probably to avoid any backlash from the US against Lenin Moreno in case the corruption allegations are true.

Doesn't surprise me a bit. Anyway it confirms my suspicion that Ecuador double crossed on Assange after he refused to compromise on his ethics and principles. Two days back Rafael Correa (the ex-president of Ecuador who had granted asylum to Assange) had criticized the current president Lenín Moreno for handing over Assange to the US authorities. This is actually very surprising because Moreno was Correa's candidate. Correa supported Moreno, because he could not run for the presidential post due to term limits.

[figmentofmyass]

I do wonder that if the US Courts decide that his whole operation in the form of wikileaks was against national security and a criminal act, would the bitcoin donators be considered as enablers for the crime?  It would take a lot of convoluted logic to do that but you never know, the authorities could try it as a "two birds with one stone" thing.

no way. various agencies have already opined on the legality of bitcoin payments and the laws surrounding them. wikileaks is a non-profit organization engaged in journalism; they are not a terrorist organization and were not listed as such.

this really sucks for julian. he's in for some ruthless treatment now that he's facing charges in the USA and might actually have to answer to them.

[Lucius]

~snip~

Thanks for that information, it seems that relations between Assange and Ecuador have not been ideal for long time. WikiLeaks is release those hacked documents (e-mails) back in 2016, during US release presidential campaign, and this was something which couse worsening relations between US and Ecuador. It did not help either that Assange is publicly supported the independence of Catalonia, which has caused much criticism from Spain.

I assume that many countries have put great pressure on Ecuador to revoke asylum for Assange, what happened in the end. However, it was unrealistic to expect that someone forever remain closed in one embassy, this had to happen sooner or later.

[Alpinat]

This is a serious matter and wikileaks takes action on it. They are brave to help the government to finally arrest Julian Assange. In my opinion, Julian will not hide if he really didn't do it. Many people donated in wikileaks because they know how wikileaks leads this case.

[veleten]

a new, unexpected plot twist in Assange's case:
President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani, in an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner, said Julian Assange could expose a "plot" involving Ukraine to falsely accuse Trump of colluding with Russia.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/giuliani-assange-could-expose-that-ukraine-was-behind-false-russia-collusion-charges

he suggested to "keep an eye on Ukraine" , the  second round of the presidential elections taking place on 21 of April and the current president is going to lose
his support rating is at 15% of which some  believe 14% are falsified 
so we might hear some interesting revelations after the elections when the new team comes to power

[CaVO32]

It's kinda sad to see the capture of Julian Assange. As per CobraBitcoin Bitcoiners owe them a huge debt, and should speak up about what's happening to Assange. However, I feel a similar way! We should perceive how it plays out.

Really its sad for you ?. A guy got arrested due to illegal activity like rape, Molestation, breaching and don't know how much charges on it. No matter who owe him who not, He just did wrong with peoples money and break the law. He deserve it

Anyone with an IQ of more than 50 is able to understand that those charges are totally cooked up. I pity on you. The real reason why he was arrested was because he exposed the American treachery towards its own allied nations. The CIA was phone-tapping leaders such as Angela Merkel, and Wikileaks exposed this truth to the general public.

this is the sad reality in our world. if you try to expose the truth and the absolute truth, the people or institutions involved in your expose will make you pay in any form, whatever they want it to be. they will find loopholes and other charges applicable to you, which are not even related to why you come into the limelight. you should know what you are doing and really know yourself before you embark in this kind of mission. otherwise, you will not even know yourself in this process.

[gentlemand]

Anyone with an IQ of more than 50 is able to understand that those charges are totally cooked up. I pity on you. The real reason why he was arrested was because he exposed the American treachery towards its own allied nations. The CIA was phone-tapping leaders such as Angela Merkel, and Wikileaks exposed this truth to the general public.

Nah. Since none of us were in the bed with them there's no point in attempting to guess what happened, but everything I've read about him points towards him being a monumental prick who wouldn't think he'd done anything wrong. He comes across as a paranoid egotistical power freak user.

I've no doubt that had he not run and hid the initial charges would've been hijacked by the US but the Swedish allegations made against him seem credible with the personality traits countless people have observed.

[shinharu10282016]

No matter how much money they received and how good the lawyer/s they hire it won't matter as long as the evidence is compelling enough to prove him guilty. The thing is of he is really innocent at all he wouldn't be seeking asylum in Ecuador in the first place, it only has dig his grave deeper by hiding out from the government this long. Wikileaks really took advantage of the situation here and they have received a considerable amount to help Assange.

He was jailed for rape right? I think you are right. If he really isn't guilty, there is no way he is going to flee. He will have to just face the accusations and trial. Or maybe they never really had that intention
The fans of WL just supports them no matter how bad that guy did that crime.