John Shipton, the father of Julian Assange, took to the stage at EthCC in Paris today to discuss similarities between Wikileaks, the organisation his son founded, and Ethereum.
“The nature of Wikileaks is comparable to the nature of Ethereum,” he said to developers at the conference. Shipton said that Wikipedia was a site where users collaborate to establish a single source of truth, whereas Ethereum, works towards the same ends–albeit with transactions.
Shipton also confirmed a rumour that his son had been a user and a fan of Cryptokitties, the Ethereum based game involving the collecting, trading, and breeding of digital cats.
“I was standing behind Julian watching him play CryptoKitties at Christmas. I think he did really well at CryptoKitties,” Shipton said. Born to Christine Hawkins and John Shipton on July 1971, Julian Assange took the name of his stepfather, Brett Assange.
Julian Assange’s legal team is currently appealing his extradition from the UK to the United States to face charges of espionage. The US government alleges he published top secret information that endangered the lives of informants and military personnel.
Assange’s lawyers argue that because the Wikileaks founder was acting as a journalist, he is entitled to First Amendment protection which ensures his right to free speech. The court case, says Shipton, is expected to cost millions.
At the end of the speech, he pointed to an Ethereum address where people could donate to Julian Assange’s defense fund. The fund, says Shipton, has already received $39 million in Bitcoin donations, but that didn’t stop Shipton from selling his house to help his son fight the case.