Oops! How the US Government made Julian Assange and Wikileaks bitcoin millionares...

In December of 2010 the US Government enacted a financial blockade to stop Wikileaks supporters from donating to the organization, covering a number of US financial services giants including PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America and Western Union.

At the time, it seemed like a successful move.   So much so it sparked war between Wikileaks and PayPal, as Wikileaks supporters teamed up to launch DDOS attacks against PayPal servers in protest.

The move forced Wikileaks to look towards other methods of funding, and they turned to bitcoin for a solution.

Now however, Julian Assange seems to have more than forgiven the US Government for blockade - he's thanking them!

My deepest thanks to the US government, Senator McCain and Senator Lieberman for pushing Visa, MasterCard, Payal, AmEx, Mooneybookers, et al, into erecting an illegal banking blockade against @WikiLeaks starting in 2010. It caused us to invest in Bitcoin -- with > 50000% return. pic.twitter.com/9i8D69yxLC

— Julian Assange 🔹 (@JulianAssange) October 14, 2017

It's also important to note - the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community aren't necessarily as thrilled as he is about Wikileaks move to bitcoin.

When Wikileaks first announced they were accepting bitcoin as their primary donation method, it was met with some backlash as many see organizations like Wikileaks providing motive for future government meddling in cryptocurrencies.

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Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk