Reddit User Discovers 7zip File Possibly Linked to Julian Assange Hidden in Bitcoin Blockchain
According to a post on the Reddit community r/bitcoin, an old file has been discovered that may be linked to Julian Assange, the whistleblower and founder of Wikileaks. The encrypted 7zip file resides in the output script of a transaction that occurred on January 5, 2017 and was mined at block height 446,713.
Speculation as to the purpose of the 7zip file named “Julianassange.Txt” included in the Bitcoin–Blockchain was found
Among the thousands of inscriptions added to the Bitcoin blockchain via Ordinals, a 7zip file potentially linked to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was recently discovered. A Reddit user by the name “u/sprxzk34620” reported the discovery to the r/bitcoin subreddit. The post states, “An encrypted 7zip file that may be associated with Julian Assange is hidden on the Bitcoin blockchain.” The author also noted that the file was created by splicing the pubkhash seg of all output scripts of a given transaction could be obtained.
“The encrypted 7zip file contains a file named ‘Julianassange.txt’ but attempts to crack the file failed,” the Reddit user added. Commenters on the Reddit post questioned why Assange would add this to the Bitcoin blockchain, with some citing speculation that he created a “dead man’s switch.” “It could be an encrypted link to the Switch or files revealing secrets,” one person wrote. Others were skeptical, stating that a ZIP file named “Julianassange.txt” sounds like a hoax.
Coincidentally, the January 5, 2017 7zip file transaction occurred five days before Assange read the Bitcoin blockchain hash of block height 447,506 in a recorded video. At the time, many believed the whistleblower used this tactic to prove he was alive. Although Assange was alive, he stated that he was not well while he was locked up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
“Don’t take cryptographic proof as proof that I’m fine,” he insisted at the time. “I’m not. I’ve been held here for eight years. I was not well the whole time.” Assange has since been stripped of Ecuadorian asylum and was arrested on April 11, 2019, when police searched the embassy. The contents of the 7zip file are unknown until someone successfully cracks it, as it may not belong to or be associated with Assange at all.
The Reddit post by u/sprxzk34620 ended with a heated discussion on whether add arbitrary data on the bitcoin blockchain by ordinal numbers was a legitimate practice as it caused controversy among some bitcoin proponents. “If everyone posts stupid cat JPEGs on the blockchain, I can keep buying new hard drives for my node…Fuck that.” Keep it compact folks,” one Redditor pointed out.
What do you think the contents of the encrypted 7zip file might reveal? Do let us know your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.
photo credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, WikiCommons
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Source: Crypto News Deutsch
