Wikileaks announced plans for a global boycott of Coinbase on April 21, accusing the exchange of operating outside crypto's core values. The California-based platform had blocked WikiLeaksShop, the me
Wikileaks announced plans for a global boycott of Coinbase on April 21, accusing the exchange of operating outside crypto's core values. The California-based platform had blocked WikiLeaksShop, the merchandise arm that sells clothing, phone cases, and crypto-kitties.
Coinbase cited a violation of its terms of service. In correspondence with Wikileaks, the exchange explained that it operates as a regulated Money Service Business under FinCen oversight and must implement compliance safeguards. Wikileaks received instruction to withdraw its assets from the account.
The blockade eliminated what had grown into a significant revenue channel for the organization. Wikileaks had been using the store to diversify its funding streams.
The decision prompted swift criticism. Andreas Antonopoulos, a prominent Bitcoin educator, saw it as historical repetition and posted on Twitter: "We have come full circle. Many people's interest in bitcoin started when Wikileaks was out under an extrajudicial embargo by Visa, Mc, Paypal and banks. Now Coinbase has repeated history. Oops."
Antonopoulos was drawing a parallel to 2010. When Wikileaks announced it would publish a "megaleak" containing documents from a multinational bank, Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Bank of America and others issued blanket bans on transactions to the organization. According to Forbes reporting at the time, these companies acted in direct response to Wikileaks' threat.
Julian Assange denounced the campaign as McCarthyism and called on supporters to boycott the institutions involved. For Wikileaks, Bitcoin became the solution. The network provided a means to collect funds outside the traditional financial system. That connection helped establish Bitcoin as a tool for circumventing centralized control.
Not everyone in Bitcoin's early community welcomed the association. Satoshi Nakamoto, who created the network, opposed involvement with Wikileaks. Nakamoto feared that early ties between Bitcoin and controversial causes could cripple the protocol during its infancy.
