“Most VPNs are lying to you” Sebastian Bürgel Privacy Talk w Peter Farbey | Web3Privacy Now Academy

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

In this Privacy Academy Interview, Sebastian Bürgel (VP Technology at Gnosis & Founder of HOPR) explores the need for metadata-resistant communication, the risks of VPN centralization, and why mixnets like HOPR matter for Web3 privacy. He shares lessons from building decentralized infrastructure, offers practical privacy tools, and reflects on how to stay grounded and ethical while navigating crypto hype cycles. Sebastian Bürgel https://x.com/SCBuergel Timecodes: 00:00 – Intro: Sebastian Büergel’s background & HOPR origin 01:44 – Ethics over hype: Building resilient privacy tools 03:35 – Why HOPR, and building GnosisVPN on mixnets 04:00 – Tips for newcomers: How to start in privacy & Web3 05:14 – Learning from Vitalik & building toolbox intuition 07:20 – Emotional challenges of crypto cycles & staying grounded 08:07 – Staying passionate: find mission, not trends 12:13 – Sustainable funding: avoid captures & grant traps 15:00 – Hackathons done right: purpose over prizes 17:20 – Early validation: testing ideas with users ASAP 21:02 – Bridging Web3 to the real world & user needs 24:02 – Privacy and AI: concerns & the need for "don't trust, verify" 29:08 – Everyday privacy: Signal, KeePass, Brave, VPNs 32:35 – Choosing a VPN: what to look out for 34:15 – Vision of a decentralized, privacy-first future 37:38 – Cultural recommendation: Foundation by Isaac Asimov This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews – a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info/p/interviews A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!