Slashdot Mirror
Julian Assage Taunts US Government For Forcing Wikileaks To Invest In Bitcoin (facebook.com)
Saturday's tweet from Julian Assange says it all:
"My deepest thanks to the US government, Senator McCain and Senator Lieberman for pushing Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, AmEx, Moneybookers, et al, into erecting an illegal banking blockade against @WikiLeaks starting in 2010. It caused us to invest in Bitcoin -- with > 50000% return."
Assange's tweet was accompanied by a graph showing the massive spike in the price of bitcoin -- though most of that growth occurred in the last year.
Assange's tweet was accompanied by a graph showing the massive spike in the price of bitcoin -- though most of that growth occurred in the last year.
Screamed yet another agitated U.S. President at the sky.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Word is that the President of Ecuador is getting pretty tired of this guy and is thinking about ejecting him from the London embassy. I think under the circumstances I'd keep a lower profile.
but I can leave my house
I would not crow too loudly if I were him.
His day is coming and all the Bitshit won't say his pathetic dope smoking ass.
Julian "Ass Age" still getting his cue cards from the Kremlin?
What other kind of money could he get in there?
right now it's largely illegal activities (drugs, money laundering, gambling, randomware) that are driving up the value of bitcoin. That value goes poof the moment the government clamps down on it. It's not like bitcoin is even anonymous. What I'm saying is taunting genuinely powerful people and bringing the main way you're funding your organization to their attention when they have a history of blocking your funding methods is just plain arrogance.
Then again, he did pretty much side with the current administration during the election and, well his man won. So he might be in a position to taunt McCain. Especially since McCain doesn't get along well with said administration.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
It just means there will be more rubble piled on top of you when the bubble bursts.
We coo.
Visa, Master and Swift have been abused so badly in pursuit of political goals in US Primaries that people all over the world have lost faith. Case in point - Sanctions against Iran a country which does not promote Wahabbism whil allowing full trae with Saudi. People have realized that depending on American and Western money networks opens you up to financial blackmail whenever American politicians want to do some dog whistling.
Russia has created its own payment network and making it difficult for Visa and Master to operate there in order to drive adoption. China most transactions are moving to Baidu's network. India is now using PayTM. As more and more major economies start moving away from western payment systems the West's power to use sanctions as a policy tool will go away. Since money still needs to move between the competing monetary systems cryptocurrencies will become the interface currency
**Life is too short to be serious**
...had a higher return on investment than Donald Trump in the past 7 years?
I know which brand I'm stamping on *MY* luxury resort/hotels! :)
But hey, maybe Motel 6 is looking to rebrand, Donald.
His ticket would have him make an unwanted stop in the US
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Nonsense. It would likely however involve a long layover in a low end Swedish hotel before catching his return flight...
How many tax dollars you figure go to mining bitcoin for the government?
.....bitcoins back in 2010. :)
...Sweden has never heard of a telephone...
The country where a person can retroactively decide they shouldn't have had sex, and it gets called "rape". A country that is trying to outlaw men urinating while standing up.
And cash out.
He should enjoy himself before we hang him.
It's the exact reason why I don't use PayPal; fuck those guys.
Hello, BTC; you're here to stay!
Seems to fit in this case
I'm sure they are happy.
Because if you put down "proof" it can be proven false. Better just to claim it exists, where it can never be gainsaid.
Ecuador needs to make Assange a citizen and then give him diplomatic status. So they can get him out of that Embassy. He will still need to stay holed up somewhere as there will be assignation attempts.
How are they going to clamp down on it? At the endpoints. Bitcoin needs to be cashed out to another currency at some point, unless the *only* things you want to buy are drugs and sploits and Magic cards. Now, there are some small players who might fit that description. There are even some in the psychedelic community who make certain drugs available on ideological grounds (cognitive freedom) and don't really care about cashing out. But they can certainly turn up the heat on anyone trying to profit. How effective that is remains to be seen.
So people who can't trust the full faith and credit of the Chinese government are running to... Bitcoin as a safe store of value? Somehow that doesn't add up. They may very well use Bitcoin for transactions they don't want the government to know about, but if you are trying to keep large sums safely stored, the other options you mentioned (foreign real estate) are way more stable.
in that sad story is that the revelations of Wikileaks helped Trump to win the vote, which may not exactly be in Assangeâs interest.
I guess there would have been better candidates lower the probability of being detained that moment he leaves the ambassy.
And personally: I think being set up and being a self inflated, stupid asshole having unsafe sex go very well together.
And it can not be. It just is.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Just like the war on drugs it will be impossible for states to censor bitcoin. Any discussion of making bitcoin illegal will only encourage us to buy more like we all did with AR15s and bullets whenever a anti-gun rhetoric or gun control fanatics open their mouths.
This is nonsense. I accept Bitcoin and have never 'cashed out'. I have never bought Bitcoin either except for trying out Bitcoin vending machines (small amounts, like $20 USD ish worth of Bitcoin). There are dozens of businesses in my town and more nearby that accept Bitcoin. There are thousands of places online that take Bitcoin. I pay my mechanic for car repairs, car insurance bill, hotel, flights, several local restaurants, electronics, and a heck of a lot more with Bitcoin. The idea its only being used for illegal purposes is ridicules, fud, and propaganda.
Chinese love bitcoin because many of them love gambling and day trading , but yes some of it is capital flight as well.
No need to worry over the absolute that was stated, obviously it was hyperbole.
The point is, most of the bitcoin market is illegal items. A few businesses accept bitcoin and a few customers use it. They haven't been burned by it yet, so they will continue to for now. Maybe it is really true that you spend lots of bitcoin, or maybe it is really true that you accepted a bunch of questionable payment instruments and you've converted a small fraction of them to goods and services, but you are also sitting on a pile of financial instruments with uncertain future value. And the vast majority of the trade that they are good for is contraband.
I thought you were referring to American colleges: Title IX, and the Dear Colleague letter. How many students have been falsely accused by educational institutions, denied due process, etc...