Bitcoin Adopted by Wikileaks 15 Years Ago: How It Happened

Fifteen years ago today, on June 14, 2011, the whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks fundamentally changed the trajectory of decentralized finance by officially adopting Bitcoin.

Due to the controversial “Cablegate” leaks, WikiLeaks faced a crippling financial blockade.

Traditional financial gatekeepers, including Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Bank of America, and Western Union, abruptly cut ties with the organization. This embargo wiped out approximately 95% of WikiLeaks’ operating revenue overnight.

In response, WikiLeaks posted a Bitcoin address to solicit donations. It was the first high-profile, real-world stress test of Bitcoin as a censorship-resistant currency.

A watershed moment

The integration of Bitcoin by WikiLeaks was a defining milestone for the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Before WikiLeaks, Bitcoin’s ability to bypass traditional financial blockades was largely theoretical.

It also served as the ultimate stress test. WikiLeaks was under the geopolitical microscope and facing immense pressure from the United States government.

However, the adoption brought massive, immediate mainstream media attention to a network that was still in its infancy. This terrified Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi famously warned on the BitcoinTalk forums that WikiLeaks had “kicked the hornet’s nest.”

Just weeks after warning about the incoming “swarm,” Satoshi vanished from the public eye forever.

Several other prominent organizations and businesses began to explore and accept Bitcoin after this.

The content management system WordPress started accepting Bitcoin payments in November 2012. By February 2013, the Internet Archive announced that it was ready to accept donations in Bitcoin.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit responsible for Wikipedia, also followed suit by adding Bitcoin as a donation method.