Assange: Blockchain's potential goes beyond Bitcoin and is expected to transform journalism

Although Julian Assange was released from prison in June, he did not make his first public appearance until earlier this month. He presented evidence of the psychological effects of his imprisonment to the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. "I want to be clear. I am not free because the system worked, but because after years of imprisonment, I pleaded guilty to a journalistic offence. I pleaded guilty to seeking information from an informant. I pleaded guilty to informing the public of the content of that information," Assange said in a speech to the Council of Europe earlier this month. From 2012 to 2017, Assange lived in the Eucadorian embassy in London, where he was granted asylum. From 2019 to 2024, he was held in a maximum-security prison in the UK. "It strips a person of their sense of self, leaving only the raw essence of existence," he said, shaking, and apologising for his "inarticulate speech" and "unpolished statements". Assange admitted: "I am not fully ready to tell what I have been through - a relentless struggle for survival, both physically and mentally." The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued a report on Assange's imprisonment, calling him a "political prisoner." They expressed concern about his treatment, saying that the US charges against him were "disproportionate" and "serious." It is reported that Assange once revealed in an AMA: "The real innovation of Bitcoin is the globally verifiable proof release within a certain period of time. The entire system is built on this concept, and many other systems can also be built on this concept. Blockchain determines history and breaks Orwell's famous saying 'those who control the present control the past, and those who control the past control the future.'" Assange praised Bitcoin for "helping us break through the illegal blockade of US banks." He also believes that the potential of blockchain is more than Bitcoin. It revolutionizes journalism by preserving the truth in a changing environment. (CryptoSlate) Previously in June, a US judge sentenced Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, to serve a sentence, ending a years-long legal battle.