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WikiLeaks founderEarly adoption✓ Verified

Julian Assange

His banking blockade became Bitcoin's first stress test.

Known as Julian AssangeActive Dec 2010

Why they matter

The blockade was the first real-world demonstration of exactly the censorship Bitcoin was built to route around — and the moment Bitcoin's politics became unavoidable, days before Satoshi vanished.

Profile

Founder of WikiLeaks. After Visa, Mastercard and PayPal cut off donations to it in December 2010, supporters turned to Bitcoin — prompting Satoshi's warning that WikiLeaks had "kicked the hornet's nest."

Timeline

  1. “WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet's nest”

Sources