WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returns to social platform X after a two-year hiatus.

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has returned to social platform X after a two-year hiatus. In a post today, he wrote "I'm back." alongside a photo of himself standing on an Australian street, pointing at his mural. His wife Stella confirmed this is his official account, noting more news will be coming next week. Assange, born in Australia in 1971, founded WikiLeaks in 2006. Around 2010, the organization released U.S. military records from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as U.S. diplomatic cables, sparking years of legal battles with U.S. and British authorities. He took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years before being arrested by the UK in 2019 and detained at Belmarsh Prison. In June 2024, he reached a plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose national defense information in exchange for credit for time served, leading to his release and return to Australia. He has largely remained out of public view over the past two years. After Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and other payment providers cut off WikiLeaks’ fiat currency channels in late 2010, Assange shifted to accepting Bitcoin, making WikiLeaks one of the first major organizations to use BTC as a censorship-resistant settlement tool. Since then, he has repeatedly spoken publicly about cryptocurrency, viewing it as infrastructure to bypass bank blockades, protect sources, and safeguard fund flows. WikiLeaks has long accepted Bitcoin and other crypto assets as donations.