We’ve seen all sorts of bitcoin fundraisers going on in the community recently, but did you know there existed a fundraiser to help with the legal defense of Edward Snowden?
There apparently is, and the amount of money its raised so far is nothing to scoff at. As of this writing, the address [Blockchain.info link] has collected just about 150 bitcoins, or $87,195 at the present exchange rate.
Snowden defense fund has raised $90,341.66 in #Bitcoin https://t.co/cKda45taX1 donate: http://t.co/GEHJ0hK5YS info: https://t.co/SdNf8MpTa1
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 24, 2014
The news comes from Wikileaks, a media outlet that has taken to publishing secret information and classified media from unidentified sources. Wikileaks has longs supported Edward Snowden, who has been on the run from authorities in the United States since 2013 after releasing a slew of classified documents from his work as a National Security Agency contractor.
Donation efforts are designed to help Snowden through his current legal predicament, in which the United States seeks to bring him back to face trial.
Wikileaks turning to bitcoin, to many in the community, was an inevitable thing. With pressure from world governments, traditional processors like VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, and others imposed a banking blockade on the funding of their operation.
With no central authority to say what can and cannot be transmitted, it highlights just one of many benefits of bitcoin — with nobody on the other end to say “no”.