Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is set to return to Australia after pleading guilty to a single charge of conspiring and disclosing classified information. This plea deal, pending judicial approval, marks a significant development in his long-standing legal battle with the U.S. government.

According to filings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, Assange faces a sentence of 62 months. However, he is unlikely to serve additional time given his lengthy stay at Belmarsh Prison in the U.K. WikiLeaks confirmed that Assange left Belmarsh maximum security prison after spending over 1,900 days there.

Assange’s Release

Julian Assange was granted bail by the High Court in London and released on the morning of June 24. He spent 1,901 days at Belmarsh before his release at Stansted airport, where he boarded a flight back to Australia.

WikiLeaks and Its Impact

Founded in 2010, WikiLeaks gained widespread attention for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2017, the organization published documents revealing how Russia uses state surveillance to monitor internet and cellphone users.

Bitcoin and WikiLeaks

The journey of WikiLeaks intersects significantly with the world of cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin. At one point, Assange sought to raise funds in BTC after financial giants like VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, and Amazon started denying payments to WikiLeaks.

In a 2014 Reddit AMA session, Assange recalled Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto’s opposition to WikiLeaks using Bitcoin in 2010. Nakamoto expressed concerns that association with WikiLeaks could overwhelm Bitcoin in its early stages.

“I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy. You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage.” – Satoshi Nakamoto

Despite these concerns, Assange invested in Bitcoin, reportedly making a 50,000% return. The current extent of his Bitcoin holdings remains unclear.

AssangeDAO and Community Support

Following a 2021 U.K. High Court ruling allowing Assange’s extradition, his supporters formed a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) called AssangeDAO to advocate for his release. The campaign raised over 17,400 ETH, with contributions from notable figures like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

However, AssangeDAO later faced scrutiny over transparency issues, as blockchain analytics firm SlowMist identified suspicious transaction patterns suggestive of a “soft rug pull.”

For more updates on cryptocurrency and finance, stay tuned to Global Crypto News.

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