The world of decentralized networks is filled with data which are mostly sensitive and sufficient enough for the power hungry to explore, whether to fulfil their marketing and selling goals or to execute their bad actor scam against the innocent and vulnerable.  Early on Cypherpunks anticipated these dangers.

Twitter Handle Zero Expressed:  In the 1990s, the Cypherpunks anticipated the promise and perils of the Internet. They knew centralized entities would be tempted to abuse its power. Let’s journey back in time to explore why the Cypherpunks are important to those of us building Web3.

So, who are these Cypherpunks? Cypherpunks are those who write computer codes to execute a function; however, they are different from regular coders in that they advocate cryptography.  They give importance to privacy enhancing technologies. They are about providing for social and political change. Achieving privacy and security by the proactive use of cryptography is what cypherpunks are all about.  For those who are new, cryptography was practiced mainly by military or spy agencies.

Cypherpunks saw that nascent information tech had both the power to set us free and create an Orwellian society.

For clarity, Orwellian” is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. The New York Times has said the term is “the most widely used adjective derived from the name of a modern writer”.

As a response, they built tools to address the likelihood bureaucracies would become more powerful and less accountable in the digital age.

So, the goal of Cypherpunks is to ensure that free and open society exists and does not get destructed by the action of power-hungry bureaucrats.

Crypto punks identified the importance of encrypted comms, self-sovereignty, credibly neutral monetary policies and private financial transactions.  It was the Rubicon in the battle for human freedom. So, they got to work.

Encrypted comms is where encryption schemes are used to be safe from eaves dropping on the internet.

Self-sovereignty is a feature of an ID or identity system, whereby, individual users maintain control over when, to whom, and how they assert their identity.

Credibly neutral monetary policies refers to a “natural” or “equilibrium” rate, where the federal funds neither stimulates (speeds up, like pushing down the gas pedal on a car) nor restrains (slows down, like hitting the brakes) economic growth.

Private financial transactions are carried out in commercial banks, thrift institutions, investment banks (merchant banks), credit unions, pension funds, investment companies, insurance companies, securities brokers and dealers, real estate investment trusts, stock exchanges, and others.

The Cypherpunks believed a world where individuals were empowered (and defended) by strong cryptography and private decentralized money was the best path forward.

So, cypher punks built the precursors to Bitcoin, OpenSSL, BitTorrent and much more

Fast forward to the present. Every month, Megacorps make billions off your data despite frequent leaks. Every minute, unaccountable officials “print” more money out of thin air.

The timing has never been better for Web3 projects like @filecoin @agoric @zcash and @ethereum.

Thankfully, it’s not too late to turn the tide. There are many people + projects that espouse the values of the Cypherpunks and help keep the vision alive.