Jul 18, 202415:59 PDT

BTCUSD0.07%

Julian Assange is home in Australia thanks to a very, very large Bitcoin BTCUSD donation.

While Bitcoin proved invaluable to Assange, crypto could offer a lot more than just funds — enabling decentralized storage networks for archiving, secure identity management for establishing trust, and safer communication for information dissemination. These are practical applications that can improve reporting and help whistleblowers avoid loss of work, crushing legal battles or, worse, jail cells.

After striking a plea deal with United States authorities, Assange's last hurrah with the U.S. legal system would take place in the territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. Just one problem — flights to a remote enclave of islands in the Western Pacific Ocean are expensive. Miraculously, a single Bitcoin donation covered nearly the entire cost, delivering Assange back to Australia debt-free.

Related: Crypto won big in the Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision

This wasn’t the first time Assange received major support from the crypto community, with AssangeDAO raising $53 million to help cover his legal fees back in 2022. But surely crypto can offer whistleblowers something more than lump sum donations.

The tech that gets us there

Although whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange have successfully delivered reports to the public without especially sophisticated technology, it came with enormous personal sacrifice. A user-facing app that...

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