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Coinbase Blocks WikiLeaks Shop Account
Bitcoin

Coinbase Blocks WikiLeaks Shop Account

In a poignant reminder of what centralization and banking regulations means, WikiLeaks Shop, reported on Twitter Friday, April 20, that their account with crypto wallet and exchange Coinbase has been blocked.

Andreas M. Antonopoulos noted the irony of the situation in a tweet that pointed how Bitcoin came to many peoples attention when it was used to fund Wikileaks when credit card companies banned donations six years ago.

WikiLeaks Shop’s tweet contains a screen grab from an email from Coinbase that states the organization violated their Terms of Service and therefore “can no longer provide access to [their] service.” Coinbase has not responded to a requests for comments on the specifics of WikiLeaks Shop’s violation by press time.

A tweet by the main WikiLeaks Twitter account called for a “global blockade” of Coinbase in response to the block:

This block by Coinbase is not as serious as the blockade WikiLeaks faced before as there are so many different wallet and crypto payment options to them now, that the loss of Coinbase is mainly a symbolic one.

As a footnote it’s worth mentioning that Satoshi Nakamoto cautioned against Bitcoin being used as a source of funding for WikiLeaks. In response to a post on Bitcointalk saying “bring it on” he said:

“No, don’t “bring it on”.

The project needs to grow gradually so the software can be strengthened along the way.

I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin.  Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy.  You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage.”

Source: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1735.msg26999#msg26999

coinmag

Cryptocurrency investor, researcher and writer

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