$280,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) donated to WikiLeaks

A good Samaritan has just made a huge donation of 8.48 Bitcoin (BTC) valued presently at $280,000 to the defense funds of the international non-profit organization (NPO) WikiLeaks.

The fund was donated for the defense of its indicted founder Julian Assange.

Blockchain tracker and analytics platform Whale Alert first spotted the donation yesterday morning, and many have seen it as favorable news for Assange who also won against his eradication to the United States.

The same yesterday, a British judge ruled that the WikiLinks founder has mental health issues, which has ruled him out for extradition.

 “For all of these reasons I find that Mr. Assange’s risk of committing suicide, if an extradition order were to be made, to be substantial,” the judge stated.

A history of attracting Bitcoin donations

This is not the first time Bitcoin donations have been made to WikiLeaks. Assange already has a history with early adopters of Bitcoin who share libertarian ideals. As a result of his favor towards such ideals, the Bitcoin community tends to align with him.

The platform started accepting crypto donations in 2017 when the Freedom of the Press Foundation decided to stop offering financial support to the organization.

But not every member of the crypto community is supporting WikiLeaks. Some stakeholders have publicly renounced their support for the organization, including Coinbase, which famously blocked WikiLeaks shops without any notice in April 2018.

The nature of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies make them the right type of funds to send to the embattled organization. After the Ecuadorian embassy revoked Assange’s asylum in 2019, crypto donations to the WikiLeaks organization surged.

But the British police later arrested him and jailed him in Belmarsh prison after finding him guilty.

The crypto community rallied round to make 6.65 BTC donations, which were worth around $33,000 at the time. But considering Bitcoin’s rally at the moment, if the donations were held, it would be worth around $206,000 today. But yesterday’s donation to help fight Assange’s legal battle is more, and the crypto community could even give more in the coming days.