# WikiLeaks and Bitcoin: the 2010 blockade, Satoshi’s plea, and the donations that followed

In December 2010, after PayPal, Visa and Mastercard stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks, Bitcoin users suggested the organization accept bitcoin instead. Satoshi Nakamoto asked WikiLeaks not to, warning that the attention could destroy the young project, and wrote that WikiLeaks had “kicked the hornet’s nest.” WikiLeaks waited, then began accepting bitcoin donations in June 2011. Its donation page, retrieved on 2 October 2026, still listed Bitcoin.

Evidence: [Re: Wikileaks contact info?](https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/bitcointalk/523/); [Banking Blockade](https://wikileaks.org/Banking-Blockade.html); [WikiLeaks’ Public Donation Address Receives 4000th Bitcoin](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/wikileaks-public-donation-address-receives-th-bitcoin-1480629241)

Canonical: https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/wikileaks-and-bitcoin/
Published: 2026-09-23
Substantively modified: 2026-10-02
Independently verified by an automated reviewer: 2026-10-02T16:01:48.343Z
Data current through: 2026-10-02

AI-assisted research and drafting with a separate automated source-verification pass; no external expert or named human review is implied.

## Key facts

- **Blockade began:** December 2010; PayPal, Mastercard and Visa Europe had all suspended payments by 7 December ([Visa Europe cuts WikiLeaks payments](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2010/12/7/visa-europe-cuts-wikileaks-payments); [Banking Blockade](https://wikileaks.org/Banking-Blockade.html))
- **Satoshi’s appeal:** 5 December 2010, on BitcoinTalk: “I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin” ([Re: Wikileaks contact info?](https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/bitcointalk/523/))
- **The “hornet’s nest” post:** 11 December 2010, replying to a thread about a PCWorld article ([Thread on the PCWorld article, including Satoshi’s “hornet’s nest” reply](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2216.0); [Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?](https://www.pcworld.com/article/499375/could_wikileaks_scandal_lead_to_new_virtual_currency.html))
- **Revenue lost to the blockade:** 95 percent, by WikiLeaks’ own account ([Banking Blockade](https://wikileaks.org/Banking-Blockade.html))
- **WikiLeaks adopted bitcoin:** 14 June 2011 ([WikiLeaks’ Public Donation Address Receives 4000th Bitcoin](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/wikileaks-public-donation-address-receives-th-bitcoin-1480629241); [Assange: Bitcoin and WikiLeaks Helped Keep Each Other Alive](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2014/09/16/assange-bitcoin-and-wikileaks-helped-keep-each-other-alive))
- **Coins received by the 2011 address:** Its 4,000th bitcoin arrived on 12 November 2016, across more than 25,000 transactions ([WikiLeaks’ Public Donation Address Receives 4000th Bitcoin](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/wikileaks-public-donation-address-receives-th-bitcoin-1480629241))
- **Today:** WikiLeaks publishes a native SegWit bitcoin address alongside five other coins ([Donate to WikiLeaks](https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate))

## In December 2010 the payment companies walked away from WikiLeaks

In late November 2010, WikiLeaks began publishing a large cache of leaked United States diplomatic cables, the release it called Cablegate. Within days the companies that moved its money stopped. PayPal suspended its account, saying WikiLeaks had broken a policy against funding activity that encourages illegal acts. Mastercard cut off payments on 6 December. Visa Europe followed on 7 December, saying it was suspending acceptance pending an investigation into whether the site broke its rules. Amazon and a domain-name provider had already dropped the site, briefly forcing it offline.

WikiLeaks’ own account, on a page it titled “Banking Blockade,” names Bank of America, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Western Union, dates the start of the blockade to 7 December 2010, and says it destroyed 95 percent of the organization’s revenue. The same page notes that in January 2011 the US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, said there were no grounds to blacklist WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks argued the companies had acted outside any accountable public process, with no court order behind them.

That is the context for everything that follows. Bitcoin was not yet two years old and its creator was still posting on the forum. A group of its users looked at a publisher that had just lost its access to cards and PayPal and saw the obvious customer for a payment system with no company in the middle.

Evidence: [Visa Europe cuts WikiLeaks payments](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2010/12/7/visa-europe-cuts-wikileaks-payments); [Banking Blockade](https://wikileaks.org/Banking-Blockade.html)

## Bitcoin users saw an opening. Satoshi asked them to stop

The idea surfaced on the BitcoinTalk forum in a thread called “Wikileaks contact info?”, where users discussed reaching the organization and suggesting it accept bitcoin. One poster, writing as RHorning, put it bluntly: “Basically, bring it on. Let’s encourage Wikileaks to use Bitcoins and I’m willing to face any risk or fallout from that act.”

On 5 December 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto replied. “No, don’t ‘bring it on’,” he wrote. “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.”

Read it slowly, because it is one of the clearest statements he made about how he thought Bitcoin should grow. He did not say WikiLeaks was wrong to want money nobody could block. He said the software was not ready, that the sums involved would be trivial, and that the heat would arrive long before the network could take it. The full run of his forum posts and emails is collected in our [correspondence archive](/satoshi/correspondence/).

Evidence: [Re: Wikileaks contact info?](https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/bitcointalk/523/)

## A PCWorld article, and the hornet’s nest

The attention arrived anyway. On 10 December 2010, PCWorld published a piece by Keir Thomas titled “Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?” It introduced Bitcoin to a mainstream audience as a decentralized currency with no single point of weakness, one that nobody could stop or censor “short of turning off the entire Internet,” and it noted that a bitcoin was then trading for roughly 20 cents.

Forum users opened a thread about the article on 11 December. That night Satoshi posted a two-sentence reply that has been quoted ever since: “It would have been nice to get this attention in any other context. WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet’s nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.”

The metaphor is precise. WikiLeaks had provoked governments and financial companies; the “swarm” was the scrutiny that might now turn toward a small open-source project that had been content to be ignored. What became of Satoshi’s account after that is covered in [Satoshi Nakamoto’s last messages](/encyclopedia/satoshi-nakamoto-disappearance/). What matters here is that on the WikiLeaks question his position never changed: not yet.

Evidence: [Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?](https://www.pcworld.com/article/499375/could_wikileaks_scandal_lead_to_new_virtual_currency.html); [Thread on the PCWorld article, including Satoshi’s “hornet’s nest” reply](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2216.0)

## WikiLeaks waited six months, then took the coins

WikiLeaks listened. In a 2014 question-and-answer session on Reddit, reported by CoinDesk, Julian Assange said the organization had read Satoshi’s analysis, agreed with it, and put off launching a bitcoin donation channel until the currency had become more established. It began accepting bitcoin on 14 June 2011.

The address WikiLeaks published that day is one of the best-documented donation addresses in Bitcoin’s history, and it has its own page in our library: [WikiLeaks’ 2011 donation address](/wallet/wikileaks-published-donation-address-2011/). By 12 November 2016, according to Bitcoin Magazine, it had received its 4,000th bitcoin across more than 25,000 transactions, most of them arriving in 2011 and 2012 when a bitcoin traded for less than $10.

The heat Satoshi feared did not destroy the project. The network was six months older, the price had risen, and the donations were no longer pocket change. Assange later argued the two projects had helped keep each other alive: WikiLeaks got money that could not be blocked, and Bitcoin got a demonstration that it worked for exactly the purpose its design promised.

Evidence: [Assange: Bitcoin and WikiLeaks Helped Keep Each Other Alive](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2014/09/16/assange-bitcoin-and-wikileaks-helped-keep-each-other-alive); [WikiLeaks’ Public Donation Address Receives 4000th Bitcoin](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/wikileaks-public-donation-address-receives-th-bitcoin-1480629241)

## The donation page observed on 2 October 2026

The donation page retrieved on 2 October 2026 listed a native SegWit address, a version-0 SegWit format beginning “bc1q,” alongside Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Zcash, Monero and Ethereum. The page is a dated observation of published payment details, which may change. We track that address at [WikiLeaks’ current donation address](/wallet/wikileaks-donation-address-currently-published/). If the different address formats are new to you, our guide to [Bitcoin address types](/encyclopedia/bitcoin-address-types/) explains them.

The same page lists card and PayPal donation options, routed through the Wau Holland Foundation, and bank transfers are listed for accounts in Germany, Australia, Iceland and France. Those listings describe the options published at the retrieval date.

Evidence: [Donate to WikiLeaks](https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate)

## Why a donation button from 2011 still matters

The WikiLeaks episode is an early documented example of Bitcoin being proposed as an alternative when payment intermediaries refused service. The white paper describes a payment system that works without a trusted third party. In December 2010 the trusted third parties, acting within their own rules, refused to serve a customer, and there was no appeal. Bitcoin offered a way around that, and PCWorld’s readers could see it at once.

It is also the clearest record of how cautious Bitcoin’s creator was. Satoshi wanted the project to grow slowly, strengthened release by release, before anyone tried to use it for something that would draw fire. WikiLeaks waited half a year and then did it anyway, and the network held. Whether the delay mattered is impossible to know. That both sides of the exchange are preserved, word for word, is what makes this history rather than legend. Our dossier on [how Bitcoin gained acceptance](/history/bitcoin-popularity-and-acceptance/) picks up what came next.

Evidence: [Re: Wikileaks contact info?](https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/bitcointalk/523/); [Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?](https://www.pcworld.com/article/499375/could_wikileaks_scandal_lead_to_new_virtual_currency.html); [Assange: Bitcoin and WikiLeaks Helped Keep Each Other Alive](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2014/09/16/assange-bitcoin-and-wikileaks-helped-keep-each-other-alive)

## Questions

### Did Satoshi Nakamoto support WikiLeaks using bitcoin?

No. On 5 December 2010 he wrote “I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin,” calling it “a small beta community in its infancy” whose software needed to grow gradually. Six days later, after a PCWorld article linked the two, he wrote that WikiLeaks had “kicked the hornet’s nest.”

Evidence: [Re: Wikileaks contact info?](https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/bitcointalk/523/); [Thread on the PCWorld article, including Satoshi’s “hornet’s nest” reply](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2216.0)

### When did WikiLeaks start accepting bitcoin?

On 14 June 2011, about six months after the payment blockade began. Julian Assange later said WikiLeaks had agreed with Satoshi’s analysis and deliberately waited for the currency to become more established.

Evidence: [WikiLeaks’ Public Donation Address Receives 4000th Bitcoin](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/wikileaks-public-donation-address-receives-th-bitcoin-1480629241); [Assange: Bitcoin and WikiLeaks Helped Keep Each Other Alive](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2014/09/16/assange-bitcoin-and-wikileaks-helped-keep-each-other-alive)

### What did Satoshi mean by “kicked the hornet’s nest”?

That WikiLeaks had provoked powerful institutions, and that press coverage tying Bitcoin to WikiLeaks, such as the PCWorld article of 10 December 2010, risked pulling that hostility onto a project that was still small and unproven. He added that it would have been nice to get the attention in any other context.

Evidence: [Thread on the PCWorld article, including Satoshi’s “hornet’s nest” reply](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2216.0); [Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?](https://www.pcworld.com/article/499375/could_wikileaks_scandal_lead_to_new_virtual_currency.html)

### Does WikiLeaks still accept bitcoin?

Yes. Its donation page publishes a native SegWit bitcoin address and lists Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Zcash, Monero and Ethereum as well, alongside card, PayPal and bank-transfer options. Payment details can change; consult the publisher’s page for its latest instructions.

Evidence: [Donate to WikiLeaks](https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate)

## Claims and scope

### wikileaks-and-bitcoin-quick-answer

In December 2010, after PayPal, Visa and Mastercard stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks, Bitcoin users suggested the organization accept bitcoin instead. Satoshi Nakamoto asked WikiLeaks not to, warning that the attention could destroy the young project, and wrote that WikiLeaks had “kicked the hornet’s nest.” WikiLeaks waited, then began accepting bitcoin donations in June 2011. Its donation page, retrieved on 2 October 2026, still listed Bitcoin.

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wikileaks-and-bitcoin-fact-blockade-began

Blockade began: December 2010; PayPal, Mastercard and Visa Europe had all suspended payments by 7 December

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wikileaks-and-bitcoin-fact-satoshi-s-appeal

Satoshi’s appeal: 5 December 2010, on BitcoinTalk: “I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin”

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wikileaks-and-bitcoin-fact-the-hornet-s-nest-post

The “hornet’s nest” post: 11 December 2010, replying to a thread about a PCWorld article

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wikileaks-and-bitcoin-fact-revenue-lost-to-the-blockade

Revenue lost to the blockade: 95 percent, by WikiLeaks’ own account

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wikileaks-and-bitcoin-fact-wikileaks-adopted-bitcoin

WikiLeaks adopted bitcoin: 14 June 2011

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wikileaks-and-bitcoin-fact-coins-received-by-the-2011-address

Coins received by the 2011 address: Its 4,000th bitcoin arrived on 12 November 2016, across more than 25,000 transactions

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wikileaks-and-bitcoin-fact-today

Today: WikiLeaks publishes a native SegWit bitcoin address alongside five other coins

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

## Sources

- [Thread on the PCWorld article, including Satoshi’s “hornet’s nest” reply](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2216.0) — BitcoinTalk forum. Topic 2216, opened 11 December 2010; Satoshi’s reply that evening (message 29280) reads “WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet’s nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.” Locator: Topic 2216, opened 11 December 2010; Satoshi’s reply that evening (message 29280) reads “WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet’s nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.”. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:24.202399+00:00.
- [Re: Wikileaks contact info?](https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/bitcointalk/523/) — Satoshi Nakamoto Institute. Archive of Satoshi’s 5 December 2010 forum post asking WikiLeaks not to use Bitcoin, with the “bring it on” message it replied to. Locator: Archive of Satoshi’s 5 December 2010 forum post asking WikiLeaks not to use Bitcoin, with the “bring it on” message it replied to.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:24.607003+00:00.
- [Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?](https://www.pcworld.com/article/499375/could_wikileaks_scandal_lead_to_new_virtual_currency.html) — PCWorld. The mainstream article that tied Bitcoin to WikiLeaks, describing it as uncensorable short of turning off the internet and trading at about 20 cents. Locator: The mainstream article that tied Bitcoin to WikiLeaks, describing it as uncensorable short of turning off the internet and trading at about 20 cents.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:26.101860+00:00.
- [Visa Europe cuts WikiLeaks payments](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2010/12/7/visa-europe-cuts-wikileaks-payments) — Al Jazeera. Contemporaneous report that Visa Europe suspended WikiLeaks payments on 7 December 2010, after Mastercard on 6 December and PayPal earlier, with the companies’ stated reasons. Locator: Contemporaneous report that Visa Europe suspended WikiLeaks payments on 7 December 2010, after Mastercard on 6 December and PayPal earlier, with the companies’ stated reasons.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:26.769816+00:00.
- [Banking Blockade](https://wikileaks.org/Banking-Blockade.html) — WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks’ own account of the blockade: the five companies it names, the 7 December 2010 start date, the claim of 95 percent revenue lost, and the January 2011 Geithner statement. Locator: WikiLeaks’ own account of the blockade: the five companies it names, the 7 December 2010 start date, the claim of 95 percent revenue lost, and the January 2011 Geithner statement.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:26.319992+00:00.
- [Assange: Bitcoin and WikiLeaks Helped Keep Each Other Alive](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2014/09/16/assange-bitcoin-and-wikileaks-helped-keep-each-other-alive) — CoinDesk. Reports Assange’s Reddit statements that WikiLeaks agreed with Satoshi’s analysis, delayed bitcoin donations until June 2011, and that the two projects helped each other survive. Locator: Reports Assange’s Reddit statements that WikiLeaks agreed with Satoshi’s analysis, delayed bitcoin donations until June 2011, and that the two projects helped each other survive.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:26.627878+00:00.
- [WikiLeaks’ Public Donation Address Receives 4000th Bitcoin](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/wikileaks-public-donation-address-receives-th-bitcoin-1480629241) — Bitcoin Magazine. States the donation address was launched on 14 June 2011, received its 4,000th bitcoin on 12 November 2016 across more than 25,000 transactions, and that most donations came in 2011 and 2012. Locator: States the donation address was launched on 14 June 2011, received its 4,000th bitcoin on 12 November 2016 across more than 25,000 transactions, and that most donations came in 2011 and 2012.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:26.315576+00:00.
- [Donate to WikiLeaks](https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate) — WikiLeaks. The current donation page, listing a native SegWit bitcoin address, five other cryptocurrencies, card and PayPal via the Wau Holland Foundation, and bank accounts in four countries. Locator: The current donation page, listing a native SegWit bitcoin address, five other cryptocurrencies, card and PayPal via the Wau Holland Foundation, and bank accounts in four countries.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:27.148693+00:00.

## Revision history

- 2026-09-23: Initial Bitcoin encyclopedia entry at this permanent URL.
- 2026-10-02: Corrected scope or wording: Its published donation addresses have received coins ever since. Corrected scope or wording: What WikiLeaks publishes today Corrected scope or wording: WikiLeaks still takes bitcoin. Its current donation page lists Corrected scope or wording: The WikiLeaks episode was the first time Bitcoin was tested against the thing it was  Dated the changeable donation-page observation and removed an unsupported claim that this was Bitcoin’s first real-world test. Corrected scope or wording: and it warns donors not to use outdated addresses. Corrected scope or wording: The page warns against using old addresses, so check it rather than any copy you find Corrected scope or wording: The page also shows how the blockade ended in practice. Card and PayPal donations are Corrected scope or wording: The traditional rails came back. Bitcoin stayed. Corrected scope or wording: Monero and Ethereum, The page Corrected scope or wording: the modern address format that begins with “bc1,” Corrected scope or wording: Those listings show which methods the organization published at the retrieval date; t
- 2026-10-02: Added reusable claims, explicit source locators, and matching Markdown and JSON. This publishing change does not itself establish factual verification.

## Cite this entry

Degrees of Satoshi editorial project. “WikiLeaks and Bitcoin: the 2010 blockade, Satoshi’s plea, and the donations that followed.” Published 2026-09-23; updated 2026-10-02. https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/wikileaks-and-bitcoin/