WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, is set to return to his home country Australia as his long-running legal struggle with the U.S. government comes to a close. 

As he walks out as a “free man,” we examine the famed whistleblower’s connections to Bitcoin and how the digital currency came to his rescue during difficult times. 

What Happened: Wikileaks was censored by the administration over its damning report on the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under pressure from the authorities, financial giants like PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard imposed a financial blockade, cutting a substantial part of the company’s revenue. 

Left with no choice, Bitcoin was used to circumvent the banking ban. In June 2011, Wikileaks posted a Bitcoin address on Twitter, now X, appealing for donations. 

See Also: 54% Of Japanese Institutional Investors Plan To Invest In Crypto In The Next 3 Years

Thirteen years later, Bitcoin has matured into one of the world’s most valuable financial assets, with one Bitcoin being worth $61,636.87. This means that the 171 Bitcoins raised in the first week will be worth more than $10 million today, a whopping 2940x leap. 

Why It Matters: Julian Assange has long been a Bitcoin bull, explaining in one of his interviews with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt how the currency’s scarcity will increase its value over time. 

Aside from the financial benefits, Assange has complimented Bitcoin’s underlying decentralized technology, which is censorship-resistant and a powerful weapon against the monopoly of a few Internet businesses. 

In other news, Assange’s wife Stella Assange, made an emergency plea to cover the cost of his flight back home, which is worth $520,000. Apparently, the donations can be made via credit/debit card payments and also Bitcoin.

The native token of the Celestia blockchain, TIA has a market capitalisation of over $US1.3 billion. That places it in the top 100 coins globally, but the token’s value seems to be trending downwards.

TIA started the year at around $US12, reached an all-time high of over $US20 in February, and at the time of writing was worth $US6.90. Of course that’s still up over 200% on its initial listing price of $US2.08 around 240 days prior.

Celestia is a Layer 1 blockchain, designed to be ‘modular’ in nature with the goal of making it easy for developers to launch their own blockchain. Development time is primarily reduced by enabling developers to combine existing rollup (aka Layer 2 scaling solution) technology options to create their own customised stack. Celestia lets you can build an independent blockchain where:

• The ‘execution’ layer of the blockchain—where smart contracts and transactions happen—can be separate from the consensus mechanism.
• The blockchain’s consensus mechanisms and data availability functions leverage Celestia infrastructure, including its network validators.

The Celestia project was initiated in 2019 by co-founders Mustafa Al-Bassam and Ismail Khoffi and attracted considerable venture capital investment including a $US1.5 million seed round in 2021 and $US55 million raised in 2022. Celestia is built on the Cosmos SDK framework.

What Is the TIA Token?

One billion TIA tokens were created, with 20% for public allocation. Its current circulating supply is around 193 million. More tokens owed to initial investors will be gradually unlocked over coming years—which can be freely traded—with the first unlock event in October this year.

The TIA token’s role in the Celestia blockchain is three-fold:

1. Developers use TIA to pay gas fees on transactions and to publish data to what’s known as a ‘blobspace’ on the network’s data availability layer.
2. Network validators and delegators stake TIA to support network consensus activities—verifying and securing transactions across a decentralised network of computers—as Celestia is a proof-of-stake blockchain. Validators and delegators also earn staking rewards in the form of TIA.
3. TIA holders get some governance powers, being able to propose and vote on proposals to change a subset of network parameters.

Celestia’s TIA token is not to be confused with the token of the Tiamonds project, which also trades under the TIA symbol. The alternate TIA is a token distributed to owners of tokenised diamonds sold via the Tiamonds platform—which touts itself as the world’s largest tokenised diamond marketplace.

• Usiacurí becomes Colombia’s first municipality to integrate cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Tether, and Tron into its economy.
• The “Crypto District” initiative is a partnership between Usiacurí’s municipality, Certika, Universidad de la Costa, and Corporación CienTech.

Usiacurí, a quaint coastal town in Colombia, has taken a pioneering step by becoming the country’s first municipality to legally incorporate cryptocurrencies into its local economy. Launched on June 21, this innovative move is part of the “Crypto District” project, a collaborative effort between the Usiacurí municipality, Certika, Universidad de la Costa, and Corporación CienTech.

This initiative allows the use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Tether, and Tron for both tourists and local residents to conduct transactions. The integration of digital currencies into Usiacurí’s economy is aimed at addressing the needs of foreign tourists and adapting to the demands of an increasingly globalized and digital world.

As we have written in Crypto News Flash, it positions Usiacurí at the forefront of financial technology by enabling artisans and local businesses to transact using blockchain technology, thus providing a fast and secure payment method.

Beyond facilitating e-commerce, the project is designed to boost the local economy by enabling artisans and small businesses to seamlessly sell their goods and services using blockchain technology. This move is expected to transform how commercial transactions are conducted in Usiacurí, enhancing efficiency and security for both buyers and sellers.

The inspiration for the “Crypto District” came from Bitcoin’s adoption in El Salvador, which you can read more about in our coverage in Crypto News Flash,  which was closely studied by Tito Crissien, the executive director of CienTech and an advisor at Universidad de la Costa. The university has been instrumental in the project, providing research and academic support through its studies on blockchain and its applications.

Crissien commented:

“The participation of the Universidad de la Costa was fundamental throughout the entire process, since through its teachers and researchers they have been strengthening the line of research into blockchain and its applications, such as this tool that “It allowed us to turn Usiacurí into the first municipality with a cryptocurrency district, generating more sales in its tourism and hotel sector.”

Usiacurí’s mayor, Julio Mario Calderón, expressed his enthusiasm about the initiative, highlighting its potential to attract visitors and establish the municipality as a key destination for cryptocurrency enthusiasts. According to reports, over 60 local artisans, three hotels, two tourist guide agencies, and seven restaurants are already participating in the project.

At the project’s launch, local artisans were equipped with cryptocurrency wallets and trained to conduct their first transactions. This initiative not only enhances Usiacurí’s tourism and hospitality sectors but also positions it as an innovative model for integrating crypto technology into municipal management and local commerce.