Notorious ex-spy Edward Snowden was revealed to have played a key role in the launch of Zcash.
The popular altcoin is being talked about again today after Zcash Media revealed that Snowden was one of six people who were instrumental in creating the altcoin. In 2016, Zcash held a ceremony to create its first currency. Snowden explained via video chat:
“My name is Edward Snowden. I attended the Zcash original ceremony under the pseudonym John Dobbertin.”
Snowden said he was never “directly” involved in the project and instead left the algorithms “to the people who really know it”:
“The Zcash project has managed to keep moving forward and I am really happy to see that it brings us closer to the ideal of a free currency, which is also a private currency.”
It’s great news that Snowden’s involvement has finally been revealed, but also in line with what we know about his involvement with crypto. In the past, Snowden was known to use crypto. According to him, cryptos and blockchain are seen as threats by governments and financial institutions.
The future of Zcash, one of the leading privacy coins on the market, may be at risk in light of proposed new EU regulations. In fact, this was a concern recently shared by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
“On March 31, the EU Parliament will vote on a proposal for a new crypto surveillance regime. The proposal is anti-innovation, anti-privacy and anti-law enforcement.”
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