WikiLeaks’ Afghan war logs to be immortalized on the Bitcoin blockchain on Dec. 12

WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange and supporters plan to mint 76,911 Afghan war log files into Bitcoin inscriptions on the Ordinals through Project Spartacus.

The collection of documents spanning six years of recounts from the Afghan war titled “Afghan War Diary 2004-2010” is currently available on the WikiLeaks site. The documents released in July 2010, consists of over 91,000 reports covering the war, including confidential content in US military operations, including civilian casualties and interrogation methods.

Although they are publicly available, the sensitive nature of the content means that there is always a risk of losing access to these files. This is why Assange and his friends and relatives plan to preserve them forever through Project Spartacus.

Project Spartacus is an initiative that aims to inscribe the Afghan War logs onto the Bitcoin btc1.77%Bitcoin blockchain using a tool called OrdinalsBot. According to the Block, the movement is supported by Assange Campaign chairman Gabriel Shipton, who emphasized the importance of making the Afghan War Diary accessible for generations to come.

The free mint will be available on ProjectSpartacus.org starting from Dec. 12 this year. Afterwards, OrdinalsBot will relaunch the effort, allowing users to participate in minting the Afghan War Diary on the firm’s marketplace, Trio.

OrdinalsBot founder Toby Lewis predicted that the minting process for more than 70,000 Afghan War log files could take a very long time to complete because it is not “a 10K collection” and will possibly span a series of different blocks.

Lewis also clarified that the initiative is not tied to the efforts of raising funds for Assange, who is seeking a full pardon from President Joe Biden. He claimed that the only people who are going to get paid through the mint are the miners.

In June 2024, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released from prison after pleading guilty to a single charge of conspiring and disclosing classified information.

Aside from leaking the Afghan war logs, Assange’s organization also published documents that exposed how Russia used state surveillance to spy on citizen’s Internet and cellphone usage in 2017.

WikiLeaks history also has ties to Bitcoin. Assange once sought to raise funds for his project through Bitcoin after several major financial firms denied payments to WikiLeaks. However, Bitcoin creator Satosi Nakamoto was against WikiLeaks using Bitcoin for payment in 2010. At the time, Nakamoto was concerned that association with WikiLeaks could overwhelm Bitcoin in its early stages of development.