# Making Blockchain Anarchist Again: NymVPN

- Speakers: [Harry Halpin](https://streameth.org/speakers/harry-halpin)
- Event: [Web3 Summit 2024](https://streameth.org/web3summit/web3_summit_2024), Berlin
- Channel: [Web3Summit](https://streameth.org/web3summit)
- Date: 2024-08-21
- Duration: 26:49
- Topics: blockchain, web3, privacy, cryptocurrency, decentralization
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/66c1c53a6e7e09ffb2c8c751
- Download: https://vod-cdn.lp-playback.studio/raw/jxf4iblf6wlsyor6526t4tcmtmqa/catalyst-vod-com/hls/5549d4ueqz1gzwfg/1080p0.mp4

## Description

Distracted by short-term financial gain, humanity is finding itself sleep-walking into a universal surveillance state aiming to monitor and control our every action via omnipresent AI technologies. How to fight back? What we at Nym are doing is returning to the anarchist roots of blockchain by enabling two crucial technologies pioneered by the cypherpunks: mixnets for anonymous internet access and anonymous credentials for private payments that give users control over their identity. The video features a speaker reflecting on the importance of the Web3 summit in the development and funding of their privacy-focused blockchain project, NIM. The speaker credits the summit for facilitating vital connections and recounts a serendipitous encounter with an investor that led to significant funding for their project. They express concern over political developments, particularly the support some in the crypto community show for authoritarian figures, and criticize those who seek power approval for mass adoption. The speaker emphasizes that crypto-anarchism stands for no masters or authorities, aligning with personal computing's roots in democratizing technology and resisting power centralization.

The speaker also discusses the origins of cryptocurrency in response to financial crises and social movements like Occupy, pointing out the irony of former activists now endorsing establishment figures. They warn against repeating historical mistakes where industrialists supported fascist leaders for personal gain. Instead, they advocate returning to technology's potential to create decentralized power structures and challenge both commercial and state centralization.

Finally, they introduce NIM's mixnet technology, which provides improved anonymity compared to VPNs and Tor by mixing internet traffic to prevent metadata analysis. The speaker plans to demonstrate this technology later in their talk.