WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange received a donation of 8.07 bitcoins from a single wallet, an amount helping him fly back to his home country—Australia. No commercial flights would take him to Australia, so the Australian government arranged a private jet with a steep cost of $520,000 that Julian was liable for.
He was freed after spending five years in a UK prison, preceded by a five-year living arrangement at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Julian pled guilty to a single charge of espionage in exchange for his freedom, as US authorities considered his imprisonment in the UK as time served.
His wife, Stella Assange, asked for contributions on X, “Julian’s travel to freedom comes at a massive cost: Julian will owe USD 520,000 which he is obligated to pay back to the Australian government for charter Flight VJ199.”She continued, stating the reason why a private jet was used to fly him in, “He was not permitted to fly commercial airlines or routes to Saipan and onward to Australia. Any contribution big or small is much appreciated.”
She created a crowdfunding page to seek contributions from generous donors who wanted to see the WikiLeaks founder head home after all these years. It has thus far raised close to $500,000 but does not accept bitcoins. So, Stella set up another page for bitcoin contributions—she set it up way before the fiat-only contributions page raised close to the amount it has now. It was a way to collect the $520,000 travel fee as quickly as possible. Julian’s supporters have far exceeded expectations and donated about a million dollars.
Bitcoin contributions brought in approximately $500,000. A single transaction accounted for the entirety of the funds raised in bitcoin. The fundraising wallet has received 8.217 bitcoins through 34 transactions, with 8.07 bitcoins coming from the address bc1q7dsp0gjzawfwynlwht2d35847kty02e2epqz6mczp6yjfm9nzfzqjkatkh.
WikiLeaks, Assange, and the Bitcoin network have observed an intertwined relationship, with WikiLeaks almost adopting bitcoin in the cryptocurrency’s early days. It did not do so after Assange empathized with Satoshi Nakamoto’s request against it, as it could have killed the network’s adoption due to the infamy WikiLeaks was receiving from the authorities.
However, WikiLeaks adopted the cryptocurrency as it was cut off from banking services. The Bitcoin network was over two years old then, witnessing increased usage and bitcoin observing growing prices. Satoshi had gone off the grid by then.
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