Julian Assange claims Bitcoin investment in Wikileaks granted 50000% return as Russia prepares to launch its own cryptocurrency.
As Bitcoin hit $5,746, Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, posted on Twitter, with a chart of the value of Bitcoin attached:
My deepest thanks to the US government, Senator McCain and Senator Lieberman for pushing Visa, MasterCard, Payal, AmEx, Mooneybookers, et al, into erecting an illegal banking blockade against @WikiLeaks starting in 2010. It caused us to invest in Bitcoin — with > 50000% return. pic.twitter.com/9i8D69yxLC
— Julian Assange ? (@JulianAssange) 14 October 2017
As Wikileaks has been revealing government corruption, Assange has been forced to live as a fugitive in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012. The antigovernment rhetoric of Wikileaks goes hand in hand with the free market principles that are embodied in cryptocurrencies today.
That said, not all governments are done with cryptocurrencies. Despite planning to ban cryptocurrency exchanges, Russia is to launch its own cryptocurrency tentatively called “CryptoRuble”.
According to the Russian media outlet AIF, a closed-doors meeting between President Putin and Moscow’s political elite at the city’s Capital Club led to Putin make the decision to have Russia issue its own cryptocurrency. Russia’s Minister of Communications and Mass Media, Nikolay Nikiforov, said: “I so confidently declare that we will launch a cryptocurrency for one simple reason: If we do not, then in 2 months, our neighbors in the Eurasian Economic Community will do it.”
While details of the technology used for the cryptocurrency remain scarce, Nikiforov said the cryptocurrency cannot be mined. He also added that the cryptoruble, effectively a cryptocurrency that will be legal tender in the Russian Federation, will also see certain adopters incur personal income tax. If the owner is unable to declare the source of cryptorubles, a flat tax of 13% will be levied when converting the cryptocurrency into Russian rubles. Similarly, an automatic 13% tax will also be levied on the earned difference of transactions involving buying and selling a crypotoruble. According to Nikiforov, these details are not set in stone yet.
The creation of its own cryptocurrency should not be read as an endorsement, nor any effort to legalize decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, the minister added. On October 10, Russia’s central bank revealed the authority’s intent to block all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country. The very same day, Russian president Putin spoke of “serious risks” with cryptocurrencies.
