Largest Digital Currency Exchange Coinbase Loses Access By WikiLeaks
The whistle-blowing organization, WikiLeaks, claims that one of its official stores has been taken down by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. WikiLeaks is now almost solely run by founder and fugitive Julian Assange from a small room in the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he is claiming asylum from the police.
The leak website has just lost the means of converting payments like bitcoin into conventional money. The US-based company, Coinbase didn’t give a specific reason and also declined to comment on the matter. The company pointed to its legal requirement to honor “regulatory compliance mechanisms” under the US’ Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Although this doesn’t stop WikiLeaks from accepting cryptocurrency. However, it will have to search to find an alternative if the company wants to continue taking digital money from customers buying shirts and coffee cups. Unsurprisingly, the organization is less than thrilled as it’s calling for a “global blockade” of Coinbase, claiming that the exchange is reacting to a “concealed influence.”
