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Where Did WikiLeaks' $25 Million Bitcoin Fortune Go? (thedailybeast.com)

Posted by msmash on from the where's-your-bitcoin,-dude dept.

Everyone from early investors to cybercriminals has benefited from the huge spike in the value of bitcoin in the past few weeks. It's a boon for one other outfit that has likely racked up tens of millions of dollars' worth of the cryptocurrency: WikiLeaks. Joseph Cox, reporting for The Daily Beast: The transparency organization may be sitting on a stockpile of bitcoin valued at around $25 million, and has likely exchanged several other large cryptocurrency caches for fiat cash, according to two sources who independently analyzed WikiLeaks's bitcoin transactions. "Last wallet looks like his piggy bank," John Bambenek, a security expert who has previously tracked Neo-Nazis' use of bitcoin, told The Daily Beast, pointing to a specific bitcoin address believed to be linked to WikiLeaks. Since at least 2011, WikiLeaks has allowed supporters to send bitcoin donations. As noted by James Ball, a journalist and former WikiLeaks staffer, whoever is in control of this address -- presumably WikiLeaks -- moved around 3,000 bitcoin, worth $800 each, into a series of other accounts on one day in December 2013.

5 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Re: What's with Slashdot's "nazi" obsession lately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And still no UTF-8 support.

  2. Fiat cash? by smooth+wombat · · Score: 3, Insightful

    exchanged several other large cryptocurrency caches for fiat cash

    The term is real money. Using the term "fiat cash" makes the author sound like a pretentious ass who's trying to be oh so leet.

    No one in normal, every day usage uses the term, "fiat cash". If we're going down that route, we should use a term such as electronic markers to describe bitcoin and the like.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    1. Re:Fiat cash? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In the US, real money is defined as gold or silver, as is similar in the Constitutions of several states and the Bretton Woods Agreement.

      Historians, economists, and traders use the term 'fiat' all the time, but this may be the first time any of them were accused of being 'leet' rather than 'nerds'.

      Why do you have a burr up your ass about a particular economic term?

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:Fiat cash? by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No one in normal, every day usage uses the term, "fiat cash"

      Because in normal every day usage, that's implied.

      But in a discussion where you talk about non-fiat money, it becomes useful to make the distinction explicit.

  3. Fiat cash? by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In the US, real money is defined as gold or silver, as is similar in the Constitutions of several states and the Bretton Woods Agreement.

    Historians, economists, and traders use the term 'fiat' all the time, but this may be the first time any of them were accused of being 'leet' rather than 'nerds'.

    Why do you have a burr up your ass about a particular economic term?

    In addition, he's attacking the author (he sounds pretentious!) and not the substance of the article, or even the reliability of the information given.