WikiLeaks Shop, the merchandise arm of international anonymous publishing non profit , reported on Twitter Friday, April 20, that their account with crypto wallet and exchange has been blocked.
ANNOUNCE: Coinbase has blocked the official shop from its platform without notice or explanation. You can continue to donate to WikiLeaks at .
— WikiLeaks Shop (@WikiLeaksShop)
WikiLeaks Shop’s tweet contains a screen grab from an alleged email from Coinbase that states the organization violated their Terms of Service and therefore “can no longer provide access to [their] service.” Coinbase has not responded to a requests for comments on the specifics of WikiLeaks Shop’s violation by press time.
All proceeds of the shop go to WikiLeaks operations, and customers can pay in bitcoin, Litecoin, bitcoin Cash, Dash, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Neo, Namecoin, Vertcoin, Monero and ZCash through Coinpayments.net.
The official WikiLeaks Twitter posted a call for a “global blockade” of Coinbase in response to the block:
WikiLeaks will call for a global blockade of Coinbase next week as an unfit member of the crypto community. Coinbase, a large Californian bitcoin processor, responding to a concealed influence, has blocked the entirely harmless in a decision approved by management.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks)
(BTC) advocate tweeted that Coinbase has “repeated history,” as bitcoin has played an important role for WikiLeaks from the time when the non profit was legally unable to use traditional banking systems:
We have come full circle. Many people’s interest in bitcoin started when Wikileaks was out under an extra judicial embargo by VISA, MC, PayPal and banks. Now Coinbase has repeated history. Oops.
— Andreas M. Antonopoulos (@aantonop)
Last fall, WikiLeaks leader the US government on Twitter for forcing the organization to rely on bitcoin due to the banking embargo, giving WikiLeaks a 50,000 percent return. Assange also to use cryptocurrencies for their donations as a way to avoid this financial blockade. The WikiLeaks website accepts bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, and ZCash for donations.
Antonopoulos in a comment to his tweet that this embargo by Coinbase is unlike the first in that it is “purely symbolic,” as there are other crypto wallets out there, but that the “symbolism is a pretty poignant reminder of what centralization and banking regulations mean.”
Published at Sat, 21 Apr 2018 09:45:43 +0000
