Edward Snowden weighed in on this topic. BitcoinCryptocurrencies are called “the most significant monetary development since coinage.”
The whistleblower turned international fugitive described his comments on Twitter as “unpopular but true”. “If you don’t trust me or understand me, I don’t have time to convince you,” Snowden added, quoting Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto.
Snowden is a long-term user of Bitcoin. He previously explained that in 2013, he used BTC as an alias to pay for servers used to host material he leaked to journalists.
In 2013, Snowden was indicted on espionage charges by the U.S. government after leaking documents about the NSA’s surveillance programs to the media. He fled to Russia and applied for asylum before his arrest. He is now living in exile there.
Last year, he appeared virtually at the Bitcoin Amsterdam conference, arguing that rather than focusing on Bitcoin’s value, Bitcoin should be considered in terms of its use as a tool to reshape the financial world. “We are all part of a much bigger game, and Bitcoin is one of the most powerful levers in that,” he said. “The payments and financial systems we influence and influence will shape the world of tomorrow.”
Snowden also criticized central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), calling them “cryptofascist” currencies that “deny the fundamental ownership of money.” But opposition to CBDC has made strange allies. He joins former President Donald Trump, House Majority Leader Tom Emmer and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Along with his aversion to CBDCs, Snowden also supported crypto privacy projects. In fact, he helped create Zcash, a privacy coin. And earlier this year he backed the legal defense fund of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, who is facing money laundering charges in connection with a sanctioned coin mixing service.
Edited by Stacey Elliott.
