Anonymous Bitcoin Donation Aids Julian Assange's Freedom, as Spot Ether ETF Nears US Launch
Summary:
Julian Assange, co-founder of WikiLeaks, has been freed from a 14-year legal battle, thanks to a $500,000 payment in Bitcoin, donated anonymously. New Ether (ETH) production has been on a steady rise over 73 days, coinciding with an optimistic prognosis for the launch of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US. Meanwhile, VanEck's filing of its spot Ether ETF with the US Securities Exchange is moving along, suggesting possible approval sooner than anticipated.
Following a 14-year legal struggle, Julian Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks, has been released, thanks in part to Bitcoin. The continuous increase in new Ether (ETH) supply has been recorded for 73 days in a row. Meanwhile, it is speculated that the US may soon see the launch of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as per an ETF analyst at Bloomberg.
To aid Assage's release, an anonymous contributor used Bitcoin to help pay the $500,000 debt. This individual donated over 8 Bitcoin, which was applied towards travel and legal fees Assange accrued over time. Assange was freed on June 24 from Belmarsh prison, a high-security facility in UK. He rapidly left the UK on a private jet for Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory, after negotiating a plea deal with US authorities. On June 26, Assange appeared in a local court in Saipan admitting to one count of breaching the U.S. Espionage Act by leaking classified documents. Consequently, he avoided stepping foot on American soil during his extradition.
Stella Assange, Assange's wife, publicized the donation link on June 25, which was acted on within 10 hours by the anonymous Bitcoin donor. The anonymous contribution helped Assange significantly towards his debt obligation of $520,000, owed to the Australian government for the charter of the urgent flight to Saipan. Moreover, Assange received over 300,000 Pound sterling ($380,000) in conventional currency donations.
Since mid-April, there has been a steady increase in the production of new Ether (ETH). The uptick, being the longest since The Merge in September 2022, has seen over 112,000 ETH being added to the overall supply. attributed to Ethereum's Dencun upgrade, which led to a reduction in fees for transactions on Ethereum layer 2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism with its 'blobs' mechanism, even as the total supply of ETH has largely dwindled since The Merge. Over just $1.1 billion worth of ETH has been burned since this update.
VanEck's spot Ether ETF filing is steadily progressing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Eric Balchunas, from Bloomberg, suggested that the green light for ETF trading is possibly sooner than expected. Based on VanEck's previous spot Bitcoin ETF schedule, it's predicted that trading for the spot Ether ETF may commence on July 2. VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise were all given the SEC's permission to begin trading spot Ether ETF, despite rumors that the SEC might categorize Ether (ETH) as a security.
Published At
6/26/2024 4:02:59 PM
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