Edward Snowden, head of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, who is known for sharing confidential information about many countries, says he sees more value in the use of cryptocurrencies, saying that he does not encourage people to invest in crypto as an investment. Here are the details…
Snowden advocates use cases of cryptocurrencies
Participating virtually at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022 conference in Austin, Texas, Snowden spoke about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) 2013’s te leaked confidential information about his spying on his citizens. Saying that he uses Bitcoin for this. “This is Bitcoin in 2013. I used to pay for servers under a pseudonym,” he said. Snowden said the following:
I generally do not encourage people to invest in cryptocurrencies as a technology. This is what drives me away from many people in the community.
Snowden defends the industry
Snowden also received recent criticism from a group of technologists who criticized cryptocurrency and blockchain technology earlier this month for countering industry lobbying efforts. defended the crypto industry against him. Snowden said he believes the anti-crypto-regulatory parties have deliberately misunderstood the crypto industry, and reheated and reintroduced some of the same old arguments that have been made over and over in the past.
Snowden, “The letter is an argument for the status quo. There are so many ways to address all your concerns. All people signing this latter can understand this industry. They should definitely understand,” he said. Snowden expressed his admiration for Harvard lecturer Bruce Schneier, one of the letter’s leading signatories, for his work on cryptography. However, he described others as “productive folk trolls”.
Snowden shared his comments on privacy
Addressing the current state of internet privacy, Snowden believes that great progress has been made in encrypting the content of our communications. However, he thinks concerns remain about metadata, which is activity logs that indicate communication has occurred. “Think of it like a car going on the highway,” Snowden said. “You can’t see who the passengers are, but you can still see where the car started off, where it landed, how long the road took – that sort of thing,” he said, adding:
We have to make sure no one can observe this level. We need to do more operations like this. As
Kriptokoin.com, Snowden was accused of espionage by the US and was granted asylum in Russia after his 2013 leak. He was granted permanent residency there in 2020. Asked about his thoughts on the war in Ukraine, Snowden said he wished it didn’t happen and hoped it would end as soon as possible. “I haven’t talked in depth about the Ukrainian crisis because I know my comments will not be handled appropriately. It will be taken and misunderstood regardless of context,” he said. He added that he had written about the war and would eventually publish his work.