Key Points
- Julian Assange and supporters plan to permanently preserve 76,911 Afghan war log files on the Bitcoin blockchain through Project Spartacus.
- The project is not a fundraising effort for Assange, but rather an initiative to keep the sensitive files accessible for future generations.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, along with his supporters, has plans to permanently inscribe 76,911 Afghan war log files on the Bitcoin blockchain. This is being done through an initiative known as Project Spartacus.
These documents, known as “Afghan War Diary 2004-2010,” have been publicly available on the WikiLeaks site since July 2010. They comprise over 91,000 reports detailing the Afghan war, including classified content related to US military operations, civilian casualties, and interrogation methods.
Preserving Access to Sensitive Files
Despite the public availability of these files, their sensitive nature means there’s always a risk of losing access to them. This is the primary reason behind Project Spartacus – to ensure these files are preserved indefinitely.
Project Spartacus aims to inscribe the Afghan War logs onto the Bitcoin blockchain using a tool called OrdinalsBot. The initiative is supported by Assange Campaign chairman Gabriel Shipton, who highlighted the importance of keeping the Afghan War Diary accessible for future generations.
Project Spartacus and OrdinalsBot
The free minting process will start on December 12 this year on ProjectSpartacus.org. Following this, OrdinalsBot will renew the effort, allowing users to participate in minting the Afghan War Diary on the Trio marketplace.
Toby Lewis, the founder of OrdinalsBot, has stated that the minting process for the Afghan War log files could take a significant amount of time due to the sheer volume of files. He also clarified that Project Spartacus is not a fundraising effort for Assange, but rather an initiative to preserve these sensitive files. The only individuals who will be compensated through the minting process are the miners.
In 2024, Assange was released from prison after pleading guilty to a single charge of conspiring and disclosing classified information. Besides the Afghan war logs, WikiLeaks also published documents exposing Russia’s use of state surveillance to spy on citizens’ internet and mobile usage in 2017.
Assange has a history with Bitcoin, having previously attempted to raise funds for his project through the cryptocurrency after several major financial firms denied payments to WikiLeaks. However, Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was opposed to WikiLeaks using Bitcoin for payments in 2010, fearing it could overwhelm Bitcoin in its early stages of development.