Megaupload, the now-defunct file hosting website that was taken down by the feds in 2012, will be relaunching next year with its original user database, according to Kim Dotcom. According to a tweet he recently sent out, Megaupload will be resurrected on the fifth anniversary of the FBI's raid on his home. He teases that some big partnership announcements will be coming soon, and that Bitcoin will have a place on Megaupload 2.0. Dotcom made the announcement on Twitter, where he also teased some other details, including that Megaupload’s return will involve Bitcoin as a payment option (or, perhaps, will be the only option). Apparently the original database will be resurrected and old accounts will be accessible again with their previously log-in credentials. Former users will reportedly receive an email letting them know their account is back, and they'll have premium privileges.
Megaupload 2.0 will go live on January 20, 2017, per Dotcom's tweet. He also sent out tweets disparaging Mega.nz, citing things about it he doesn't like and getting the company riled up in the process. He said in one tweet, "Mega NZ is dead! Download limits. Chinese ownership. Funding issues. No Kim Dotcom. Megaupload 2.0 will change the game." Megaupload’s shutdown and the raid spurred years of ongoing legal trouble that have plagued Dotcom since then. He faced an extradition hearing this past September, for example, with a ruling in December 2015 pegging him as eligible for extradition. The entire matter revolved around copyrighted content users uploaded to the website, and allegations that Dotcom (and others) cost copyright holders millions of dollars by operating the site.