The following is a guest post by Kadan Stadelmann, CTO of Komodo Blockchain.
Although Julian Assange was released from prison in June, his first appearance did not happen until the beginning of the month. He gave the Council evidence of the psychological effects of his incarceration to the legal affairs and human rights committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, which includes lawmakers from 46 European countries.
âI want to be totally clear. I am not free today because the system worked,â Assange began his speech to the Council of Europe early this month. âI am free today because after years of incarceration I pleaded guilty to journalism. I pleaded guilty to seeking information from a source.â
âI pled guilty to seeking information from a source,â said Assange. âI pled guilty to obtaining information from a source. And I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was.â
From 2012-2017, Assange lived at the Eucadorian Embassy in London, where he was granted asylum. From 2019-2024 he was held in a maximum security British prison. âIt strips away oneâs sense of self, leaving only the raw essence of existence,â he shakily said. He apologized for his âfaltering wordsâ and âunpolished presentation.â
Assange admitted:
âIâm not yet fully equipped to speak about what I have endured â the relentless struggle to stay alive, both physically and mentally.â
The Council of Europeâs Parliamentary Assembly released a report about Assangeâs incarceration, calling him a âpolitical prisoner.â They expressed concern over his treatment, saying the charges brought against him by the U.S. were âdisproportianteâ and âsevere.â
Assangeâs Ties To Bitcoin Are Clear
WikiLeaks began accepting Bitcoin after global financial institutions placed WikiLeaks in what the founder called a âFinancial Blockade.â It began with PayPal, which originally stated it had received a letter from the State Department before correcting the story and saying it had made its decision after seeing the purposely misleading letter the State Department sent to PayPal.
And then, institution after institution followed by also blocking WikiLeaks from their platforms. Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America blocked donations. The institutions cited their âterms of serviceâ for the decision to block donations.
Assange As Public Enemy Number One
WikiLeaks had sinned against the Powers That Be by releasing more than 250,000 U.S. State Department cables that it received from former Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, who today goes by Chelsea. WikiLeaks had also shed light on the CIA infiltration of French political parties, spying on French and German leaders and software injections into smart TVs, cars, and iPhones.
Some in the international community spoke out against the blockade. The UN High Commissioner condemned the action. So did the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, as well as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.
Although the U.S. State Department called WikiLeaksâ action illegal, though publishing classified documents is not illegal in the United States. No charges were filed. Eventually, WikiLeaks enjoyed certain smaller victories. The ReykjavĂk district court, in Iceland, ruled laws by imposing a block against WikiLeaks credit card donations, and that the block should be removed within two weeks.
âThis is a significant victory against Washingtonâs attempt to silence WikiLeaks,â WikiLeaks founder Assange said in a statement about the win in Iceland. âWe will not be silenced. Economic censorship is censorship. It is wrong. When itâs done outside of the rule of law itâs doubly wrong. One by one those involved in the attempted censorship of WikiLeaks will find themselves on the wrong side of history.â
Assange views Bitcoin as an important innovation, but other blockchain use cases as justâif not moreâimportant.
Assange is a man who proved too dangerous to the military industrial complex to freely walk the streets because people trusted him with their secrets. Itâs a miracle he is alive. Assange is also a man who played a large role in the emergence of Bitcoin.
Assangeâs View On Bitcoin, Blockchain
Assange was released from prison in June into a new world orderâa world of lockdowns, inflation, and war on the European continent. Assange lamented in his press conference how much ground had been lost in the fight for freedom since his incarceration. Itâs not been only bad news, though. There is an increased awareness among the public. And, at the same time, Bitcoinâs integration into society has only increased over time.
Nation-states such as Bhutan and El Salvador hold Bitcoin. The United States might not be so far behind. There is talk of hyperbitcoinization and the Bitcoin Standard. But, this might not be what Assange finds most interesting about blockchain. In an AMA, he revealed he sees great potential for blockchain and journalism. That, in fact, blockchain could save us from the memory hole.
Assange said in a Reddit AMA:
âBitcoinâs real innovation is a globally verifiable proof publishing at a certain time. The whole system is built on that concept and many other systems can also be built on it. The blockchain nails down history, breaking Orwellâs dictum of âHe who controls the present controls the past and he who controls the past controls the future.’â
Assange credits Bitcoin with âseeing us through the extralegal US banking blockade.â