Edward Snowden Talks Free Speech, Bitcoin at Recently Concluded Crypto Conference

Even though Edward Snowden was quoted as saying last year that Bitcoin would be gone within the next 5-10 years, he was seen making an appearance (albeit via video) at the recently concluded Bitcoin 2019 conference where he talked about ways in which Bitcoin was making the world a more transparent place — especially as the governments of the world continue to implement harsher surveillance measures to monitor their citizens.

Additionally, during the course of the conference, Snowden revealed to the attendees that he had in fact made use of Bitcoin to pay for servers that were eventually used to leak classified US intelligence data during his stint at the CIA.

During the course of his talk at Bitcoin 2019, the whistle-blower covered a host of different topics such as BTC being used for nefarious, criminal related activities. In regards to the matter, Snowden made it extremely clear that a majority of all money laundering, terrorism related activities today were being facilitated through the use of the US Dollar.

More on the Matter

For those of our readers who may not be aware of Edward Snowden’s past, he is an ex-CIA/ NSA contractor who leaked a host of documents pertaining to the US governments torture and data collection programs to various media agencies across the globe. Following this, he made his way into Russia (where he was provided amnesty by the local government) and continues to live there to this very day.

On the subject of central banks ruling the global financial ecosystem, he pointed out that since currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash are trying to give people the power to control their own monetary assets, the governments of the world aren't too happy with them.

“Today, you’re allowed some free speech online, and the worst case, you’re going to get kicked off of YouTube. You’re going to kicked off of Twitter. This is a big level of interference, but it’s happening from private companies, rather than governments. […] We can’t do the same thing when we send money. […] Bitcoin is free money.”

Other Points Worth Bearing in Mind

During the conference Snowden refrained from talking about privacy coins.

In the past, he has often claimed that while Bitcoin in itself might not last, its underlying technology ‘blockchain’ was here to stay.

Snowden was recently quoted as saying that while BTCs core premise was excellent, the currency’s framework had a lot of issues.

In his trademark style, Edward Snowden spoke to a gathering of tech enthusiasts at the recent Bitcoin 2019 Conference — where he expounded his views on a number of different topics such as privacy, centralized banking institutions, blockchain technology, etc.