An Espionage Act prosecution against Julian Assange isn’t just an attack on the First Amendment. It’s a cruise missile against a free internet, and Bitcoin could be next.
I never thought my older brother Julian Assange would need my help.
I’ve always looked up to him. He is fearless, smart, nurturing and protective. No matter what was going on in his world — whether he was travelling the world for groundbreaking publications, living under house arrest with an ankle bracelet or seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy — he could listen to my problems and offer (sometimes unsolicited) free advice. When I needed him, he found a way to be there for me.
In August 2019, I went to see Julian in HM Prison Belmarsh, and I realized something had changed. After years of what United Nations representatives have formally classified as psychological or “no touch torture,” the effect on him was more visible than ever. I realized that now, it was my turn to help my brother.
We spoke about things like the ubiquitous COVID-19 response, when our father was going to slow down and the distraction and consequences of QAnon. However, A favorite topic of his was Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
WikiLeaks and Bitcoin were both born of the cypherpunk movement. And it was in those embryonic days of the Cypherpunks Mailing List that Julian began his long intellectual interest and curiosity in Bitcoin. Julian participated in discussions and debate that cemented the cypherpunk movements values around freedom, privacy, mastery of technology and codified curiosity. Most of the suspected creators and earliest backers of Bitcoin belonged to or were inspired by this community of thinkers and tinkerers.
In 2010, after publishing tranches of material on Bush- and Obama-era wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rules of engagement, Guantanamo Bay
