Here’s what it took to free Julian Assange — Lugano’s Plan B Forum

Julian Assange’s family members took the stage at the Plan B Forum in Lugano, Switzerland, to highlight the effort behind fighting extradition to the United States and freeing the journalist — which included more than $30 million spent and 14 years to accomplish.

The panel included Julian’s wife, Stella Assange, his father, John Shipton, and his half-brother, Gabriel Shipton. Assange’s half-brother provided more details on the massive financial effort to secure his release:

“We’re looking at upwards of $30 million, just across campaign costs, campaigning fees, legal fees. It was a global campaign with tens of thousands of individual donations and larger donations from some very wealthy Bitcoiners.”

Gabriel also noted the role of the decentralized autonomous organization AssangeDAO in freeing the WikiLeaks founder, which included 10,000 individual members who donated to the cause.

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The vast financial resources required to secure Assange’s release were previously made public by AssangeDAO member Silke Noa.

Noa revealed that the DAO spent $37 million on legal fees and awareness campaigns to secure the journalist’s release.

Bitcoiners came to the aid of Assange again in June 2024. Following his release from custody, the WikiLeaks founder was forced to charter a private plane from the United Kingdom to return home to Australia because he was prohibited from boarding commercial flights back to the region.

This private charter cost $520,000. which would have put Assange in considerable debt. Fortunately for Assange, an anonymous Bitcoiner donated more than eight Bitcoin (BTC), valued at $520,000 at the time, to cover the travel expenses foisted upon Assange.

Crypto assets became the lifeline for WikiLeaks after former United States President Barack Obama declared the organization’s reporting — which published material directly from the US government itself — illegal in 2010. 

Following the pronouncement from the executive branch, the US State Department directed payment processing companies and financial institutions to stop providing services to WikiLeaks in an effort to shut down the whistleblower outlet.

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