WikiLeaks Claim Sends Bitcoin Bros into a Spiral, Convinced the Government Helped Fund Anti-Crypto Propaganda

In a post on X, WikiLeaks said that an author who criticized its former head Julian Assange was secretly funded by the government.

WikiLeaks has made a claim that an author who criticized the organization's former head, Julian Assange, received substantial funding from the government to the tune of at least $80,000. This revelation has sparked a flurry of reactions among Bitcoin enthusiasts, who are convinced that this is part of a larger effort by the federal government to discredit cryptocurrencies.

In his book titled “Cyberlibertarianism: The Right Wing Politics of Digital Technology,” the author, David Golumbia, who passed away before the book's publication, referred to Assange as a “proto-Nazi political provocateur.” The book also included a section that likened cryptocurrency to a protofascist movement with far-right connections.

Prior to writing the book on cyberlibertarianism, Golumbia had also authored another work called “The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism,” which asserted that cryptocurrencies were likely to be adopted by far-right extremists owing to their inherent rejection of government involvement.

The claim made by WikiLeaks attempts to link the author to the recent wave of right-wing enthusiasm over USAID and government propaganda. However, the specific origins of the grant that WikiLeaks alleges Golumbia received remain unclear.

The University of Minnesota Press, which published Golumbia's book, receives funding from a variety of government grants and subsidies, as well as contributions from other organizations. Additionally, Virginia Commonwealth University, where Golumbia was employed before his passing, also acknowledges receiving government funding.

The Daily Dot has not been able to independently verify the existence of the specific grant that WikiLeaks claims Golumbia received. Nevertheless, crypto enthusiasts have swiftly mobilized to denounce Golumbia's work based on this unverified claim of federal funding.

“#USAID funded medias to spread anti-Libertarian propaganda. We knew this already…we now have the receipts to prove it,” remarked one individual in response to the news.

A CEO in the crypto industry also expressed outrage over the revelation. “So apparently, USAID is funding the production of propaganda that says Bitcoin is right-wing extremism,” fumed the head of Cardano, a prominent cryptocurrency platform. “I'm so over this garbage.”

On various crypto blogs, articles have emerged calling upon President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to intervene and rectify this alleged government smear campaign against digital currencies.

“The inclusion of Golumbia's work in academic settings without a critical examination of its funding sources ... highlights a worrying trend within government, which the new Trump admin is trying to address, in particular with Elon Musk and the DOGE agency's mission,” wrote one crypto news outlet.

However, despite the grandiose claims and impassioned reactions, much like several previous right-wing outbursts regarding government funding, the definitive proof of any substantial scandal appears to be notably absent from the discussion.

In the Reddit community r/btc, users who highlighted the big reveal as evidence of a clandestine government agenda were met with a wave of skepticism from fellow members of the community.

“Is there a part 2 to this article?” inquired one user. “Or anything that specified how USAID is related here? The WikiLeaks post says Golumbia received $80k in US grants … I don't see how ‘received grants’ translates to ‘received money from USAID’ but maybe I'm missing something here?”