Snowden: Bitcoin needs better privacy

Recently Snowden was awarded the Thomas Szasz Award from the Center for Independent Thought, which was presented to him by my boss John Stossel. During the call I was able to ask Snowden about Bitcoin and the need for anonymous digital payments.

Bitcoin played an important role in the 2013 Snowden leaks: the servers that Snowden used to transfer information to journalists were paid for using bitcoin, because he didn’t want those records connected to his name.

Snowden explained to me that Bitcoin is superior to credit cards, because it’s at least pseudonymous. But steps need to be taken to add privacy.

He once tweeted: “Bitcoin is great, but “if it’s not private, it’s not safe,”” and he said that Zcash’s privacy tech makes it the most interesting Bitcoin alternative.

I asked him about all of this when we spoke.

Watch Stossel’s full interview with Snowden here:
https://youtu.be/ZSu4rCizyUM

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Awesome outro music: YT Cracker – Bitcoin Baron 💛
https://soundcloud.com/ytcracker

Here are a bunch of products I like and use. Using these links helps support the channel and future videos!

Recommended Books:

Permanent Record – Edward Snowden
https://amzn.to/305negc

No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State – Glenn Greenwald
https://amzn.to/2UQmJ4m

What has the government done to our money – Rothbard
https://amzn.to/2KMzmcu

Naomi’s Privacy Bag: some of my favorite products to help protect your privacy!

Use the Brave browser! https://brave.com/nao076

USB-C to ethernet adapter:
https://amzn.to/2lOVBoy

Lightening to ethernet adapter:
https://amzn.to/2nWyNns

Faraday bag wallet (signal stopping, to protect your fob, credit card, and phone)
https://amzn.to/2SUkPhu

Data Blocker (if you’re charging your phone in an unknown port, use this so that no data is transferred)
https://amzn.to/2SVh0J2

Computer privacy screen (use your computer in public? Keep your information safe!)
https://amzn.to/2SXYHmf

Phone privacy screen (don’t let people in public see your private data)
https://amzn.to/2YyJMnH

Camera cover (for computers and phones, so no one can access your camera without you knowing)
https://amzn.to/2Mt7Hic

Privacy Tip: Don’t use wifi, and if you must, append the tag ‘_nomap’ or ‘_optout’ to your SSID to stop other websites tracking your location.