Here's How Much Bitcoin Has Surged Since Julian Assange's WikiLeaks Took Refuge In The Cryptocurrency After Visa, MasterCard and PayPal Pulled The Plug

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, is set to return to his home country Australia as his long-running legal struggle with the U.S. government comes to a close. 

As he walks out as a “free man,” we examine the famed whistleblower’s connections to Bitcoin BTC/USD and how the digital currency came to his rescue during difficult times. 

What Happened: Wikileaks was censored by the administration over its damning report on the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under pressure from the authorities, financial giants like PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard imposed a financial blockade, cutting a substantial part of the company's revenue. 

Left with no choice, Bitcoin was used to circumvent the banking ban. In June 2011, Wikileaks posted a Bitcoin address on Twitter, now X, appealing for donations. 

The appeal was met with a lot of fervor, with up to 171 Bitcoins transferred to Wikileaks in the first week itself. During this time, one Bitcoin was valued at $20.96, meaning that the company raised $3,584 in total.

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Thirteen years later, Bitcoin has matured into one of the world’s most valuable financial assets, with one Bitcoin being worth $61,636.87. This means that the 171 Bitcoins raised in the first week will be worth more than $10 million today, a whopping 2940x leap. 

Why It Matters: Julian Assange has long been a Bitcoin bull, explaining in one of his interviews with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt how the currency’s scarcity will increase its value over time. 

Aside from the financial benefits, Assange has complimented Bitcoin's underlying decentralized technology, which is censorship-resistant and a powerful weapon against the monopoly of a few Internet businesses. 

In other news, Assange’s wife Stella Assange, made an emergency plea to cover the cost of his flight back home, which is worth $520,000. Apparently, the donations can be made via credit/debit card payments and also Bitcoin.

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Price Action: At the time of writing, ADA was exchanging hands at $0.3918, rising 1.02% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.