How Bitcoin Revived the Cypherpunk Revolution

By April 11, 2016Bitcoin Business

Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn found the cypherpunks mailing list when he was 19. Since then, he has been lucky enough to work on cypherpunk -oriented technologies for most of his adult life. Currently, Zooko is the CEO of Zcash , which is a truly anonymous alternative to Bitcoin.

Zooko was recently interviewed on Epicenter Bitcoin , and he shared some of his thoughts related to the recent revival of the cypherpunk movement. In his view, Bitcoin has given this technological revolution new life.

Who Are the Cypherpunks?

The definition of a cypherpunk tends to vary based on whom you ask, but the generally accepted definition of a cypherpunk is anyone who uses strong cryptography in an effort to enact social or political change.

The cypherpunks first came to prominence via the cypherpunks mailing list in the ‘90s.

During his recent Epicenter Bitcoin interview, Zooko described what happened when he first stumbled upon the cypherpunks mailing list: “I became exposed to all kinds of grandiose visions of how the combination of the Internet plus cryptography plus those two things becoming widely available to billions of people could have all kinds of fantastic consequences.” Cypherpunk philosophy is perhaps best described by former Intel senior scientist Timothy C. May in The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto . In the manifesto from 1992, May writes: “These developments will alter completely the nature of government regulation, the ability to tax and control economic interactions, the ability to keep information secret, and will even alter the nature of trust and reputation.” Bitcoin Is a Cypherpunk’s Dream

A workable form of digital cash has always been on the minds of the cypherpunks. During the ‘90s, much of the activity on the mailing list was associated with various schemes for digital cash systems. Zooko discussed this point during the interview: “The development of Bitcoin […]

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