Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), wants the Bitcoin blockchain to have more powerful privacy protections after U.S. officials forced crypto mixing services to shut down.
Snowden went on X on May 3 to stress the importance of privacy features being built right into the Bitcoin system. He stressed that time is of the essence and said that he was raised to believe in the need for protocol-level protection. The reason for this is that ZkSNACKs, the creator of Wasabi Wallet, said that Coinjoin, a service for mixing cryptocurrencies, would be shut down on June 1.
Snowden Calls for Vigilance
Law enforcement in the U.S. is putting increasing pressure on Coinjoin to shut down. For example, federal officials in New York have recently accused the founders of Samourai Wallet of helping with illegal transactions worth more than $2 billion. As reported, this is part of a larger crackdown by U.S. officials on questionable cryptocurrency wallets and mixers.
Along with fighting for Bitcoin privacy, the contractor brought to light the concern that Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, had expressed about changes being considered to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Going along with what Ginsburg was worried about, He said that the NSA is about to significantly take over the internet.
