Whistleblower haven WikiLeaks will temporarily stop releasing leaks because of a lack of funds, the organization announced at a press conference in London on Monday.

WikiLeaks has been under a blockade from many major financial institutions, including PayPal, Visa and PostFinance, since it started leaking U.S. government cables in November 2010.

"WikiLeaks has lost an estimated 95% of donations due to financial blockade," WikiLeaks spokeswoman Kristinn Hrafnsson said. "It could have received 40 million to 50 million Euros if it weren't for the blockade," she added.

In an effort to raise money for the continued operation of the site, WikiLeaks has announced it will temporarily stop publishing leaks while it focuses on what WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange calls an "unlawful financial blockade."

WikiLeaks has also invited supporters to donate money, either through a direct bank transfer via two banks that still work with WikiLeaks - Germany's Commerzbank and Iceland's Landsbankinn - or by using the anonymous digital currency BitCoin.

At the conference, Assange also announced the Nov. 28 launch of a new, independent certificate authority, because other certificate authorities "cannot be trusted." "You cannot trust any HTTPS connection on the Internet right now, as intelligence agencies have infiltrated all certificate authorities," he said.





