Kristopher Ives, a computer programmer from Oregon, USA believes that a Bitcoin donation of $0.33 to pay the legal fees for famous NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden is enough to land him in jail.
According to Ives, the donation he made violates an executive order from President Obama, which prohibits the transfer of funds to individuals who are deemed a threat to national and international security. It is an order, which Ives believes, targets Snowden specifically because he leaked thousands of confidential National Security Agency documents.
In one of his interviews to NY Daily News, Ives stated: “I think if somebody is martyred over 33 cents, there’s a bigger problem.”
The 28-year old Oregon wrote on Reddit that “It’s not much but it’s the principle of the matter. Please come arrest me.”
Ives then took the matter to Twitter and tagged Obama in a Tweet and based him for his executive order.
@BarackObama Your executive order is unconstitutional. Here is my donation to #Snowden https://t.co/Y0MY5TWgq9 #BitcoinIsSpeech
— blank (@kristopherives) April 2, 2015
Although the aforementioned executive order doesn’t mention Snowden or any suspected offender but it targets those who have in any way maliciously threatened the country’s economic health, financial stability and/or foreign policy.
However, Ives is not the only one who donated for Snowden but about 200 Bitcoin donations (around $5,289) have been put into the former NSA contractor’s defense fund. By August 2013, Snowden’s fund managed to collect $46,000.