Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency who leaked highly classified intelligence in 2013, believes China’s cryptocurrency ban has strengthened Bitcoin.
“This is the first time in a while I’ve felt like buying BItcoin. That drop was too much panic and too little reason,” Snowden tweeted back in March 2020. Yesterday, he quoted that tweet and said “[Bitcoin] is up ~10 since, despite a coordinated global campaign by governments to undermine public understanding of—and support for—cryptocurrency.”
“China even banned it, but it just made Bitcoin stronger,” Snowden added.
Sometimes I think back to this and wonder how many people bought #Bitcoin then.
It's up ~10x since, despite a coordinated global campaign by governments to undermine public understanding of—and support for—cryptocurrency.
This is not the first time Snowden has opined about Bitcoin. Earlier this year, the infamous whistleblower lamented the cryptocurrency’s perceived lack of privacy.
Snowden and Bitcoin
During this year’s Ethereal Summit powered by Decrypt, Snowden said Bitcoin needed to become “private by design” to counter efforts against “privacy coins” like Monero.
“Bitcoin is really failing comprehensively on the privacy angle. Now in 2021, everybody knows there’s a problem when we talk about digital surveillance,” Snowden told fierce digital privacy advocate Marta Belcher.
Speaking at Decrypt's Ethereal Summit, infamous whistleblower Edward Snowden argued that Bitcoin must be made "private by design" in order to counter efforts to crack down on so-called "privacy coins" such as Monero.
"Bitcoin is really failing comprehensively on the privacy angle," Snowden said, adding, "Now in 2021, everybody knows there's a problem when we talk about digital surveillance."
Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency who leaked highly classified intelligen...
The solution—according to Snowden—is for Bitcoin to re-pivot to privacy, but he isn’t necessarily optimistic. “It’s really frustrating for a lot of people in this space that the core development team for Bitcoin has been prioritized—because the longer they wait, the more obstacles are going to be put in place to prevent that,” he added.
Since then, China’s ban has crept back into the public eye on several occasions. In May, the National Interest Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association, and the Payment and Clearing Association of China collectively reiterated their support for the government’s position.
“Recently, cryptocurrency prices have skyrocketed and plummeted, and speculative trading of cryptocurrency has rebounded, seriously infringing on the safety of people’s property and disrupting the normal economic and financial order,” they said.
China’s crackdown on Bitcoin mining has sent the hash rate plummeting and has further served to highlight the detrimental environmental aspects of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. But the consequences have not been adequately addressed, according to a senior British academic.
Pete Howson, a senior lecturer in international development at Northumbria University in the UK, told Decrypt that China has unleashed a “global arms race in Bitcoin mining equipment” which is having devastating ef...
Last month, the government published a notice detailing further details behind their position against cryptocurrencies.
“Recently, virtual currency trading hype activities have risen, disrupting economic and financial order, breeding illegal and criminal activities such as gambling, illegal fundraising, fraud, pyramid schemes, and money laundering,” the government said.
SharpLink Gaming acquired $225 million worth of Ethereum earlier this month, the company said in a press release on Tuesday, adding to its industry-leading holdings.
The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based firm now said it now owns roughly 280,000 Ethereum worth $846 million. The company first purchased the asset just over a month ago.
As of Tuesday, the Ethereum Foundation owned around 217,500 Ethereum worth $655 million across several networks, according to crypto analytics platform Arkham Intellige...
British banking giant Standard Chartered became the first "too big to fail" bank to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading through traditional currency platforms on Tuesday, crossing a line that its peers have cautiously approached for years.
The bank will run Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading services for institutional clients from its U.K. branch, enabling them to execute trades through the same foreign exchange systems they already use.
“Digital assets are a foundational element of the evolution...
Grayscale has confidentially submitted preliminary paperwork with U.S. regulators that could lead to the listing of its shares on the public market, the asset manager said Monday in a statement.
The firm filed a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the press release. Grayscale did not disclose the number of shares it plans to register, nor the price range for the proposed registration. Draft S-1’s are introductory filings, enabl...
