Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, once again comes out of the shadows with a startling revelation. Our colleagues from Forbes revealed that the famous whistleblower was also one of the six founding members of the Zcash cryptocurrency.
Officially launched in 2016, the latter is now in the Top 50 of the most popular virtual currencies, according to CoinMarketCap. This cryptocurrency relies on the same code as Bitcoin, while adding a layer of anonymity. Like Monero, Zcash is considered one of the privacy corners reference in the world.
Who is John Dobbertin?
Along with founders Zooko Wilcox or Peter Todd (former developer of Bitcoin Core), Edward Snowden is said to have been one of the holders of part of the private key that allowed the creation of the anonymous cryptocurrency.
With the endorsement of each of the six founding members, this key was then destroyed so as not to corrupt the development of the digital currency. In the process, however, Edward Snowden was never explicitly mentioned. The American hid behind the pseudonym John Dobbertin so as not to arouse the curiosity of the general public.
In a video interview with Zcash Media, Edward Snowden officially acknowledged that he was one of the six members who participated in the ceremony for the creation of the cryptocurrency.
The company behind the token, Electric Coin Company, claims that he received no compensation for this project and that he participated in it as a simple privacy advocate. Moreover, Edward Snowden would not be involved in the development of the project since.
.@Snowden was not compensated for his help and he hasn’t been affiliated with the #Zcash project since. He was not paid by Electric Coin Company and operated solely out of public interest in creating a private cryptocurrency. 🙏
— Electric Coin Co. (@ElectricCoinCo) April 27, 2022
Private life
In the video, Edward Snowden praises the characteristics of Zcash, a cryptocurrency that relies on a reliable but above all anonymous ledger. He distinguishes it from Bitcoin and Ether which do not offer real anonymity.
By downloading the blockchain of these two cryptocurrencies, a user can access the history of all past transactions. Conversely, the protocol behind Zcash makes it possible to verify transactions without revealing their content thanks to a specific cryptographic process (Zero Knowledge Proof).
To justify the rationale for Zcash and privacy coins in general, Snowden explains “that you can’t have free trade without having anonymous trade. We also cannot have a free society without having real free trade”. According to him, it is therefore essential to be able to carry out transactions under the radar to have a free society.
Announced last night, this news did not react to the course of the cryptocurrency. The latter remained stable in a globally sluggish market, with volumes also very limited.
Source: Presse-Citron
I am a technology author with 8 years of experience in journalism. My writing covers the latest technology advancements and trends, drawing on my expertise in news journalism and social media platforms. I have contributed to major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.
