From ‘Cypherpunk’ to ‘Billions Onchain’ | Maxwell Saal - SporkDAO

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

Crypto has, from its very origins, held freedom as a central tenet. The freedom to transact, the freedom to hold your own assets, and the freedom to do so whether or not a government approves of you. Freedom is an ideal that people across the political spectrum agree and identify with; freedom from surveillance and to communicate without censorship was the original ideal of the cypherpunk movement. Bitcoin was born largely as as a cypherpunk financial alternative, free from control by banks and governments. Freedom to be owned and spent by anyone, and open to anyone with an internet connection and a computer. Fifteen years have passed since Bitcoin, and a great deal has happened since then. Cracks begin to form in this ideal of freedom and financial autonomy. We say we want to “bring the world onchain”, but can we do so without compromising on freedom to give people basic protections from theft or exploitation? Can we provide freedom from surveillance, or privacy, without aiding criminals and antagonizing governments? As crypto gets bigger and more intertwined with existing financial systems, the incentives to compromise on freedom become greater and more urgent- but even if we could ignore them, should we? In this position, there are no easy answers. Maxwell will give a wide ranging talk about cypherpunkism, the global financial system, “mass adoption”, onchain crime, and some anecdotes about building a protocol at the turbulent intersection between onchain privacy and regulatory compliance. 🚀 Get Ready for ETHDenver 2025! 🚀 We're already hard at work preparing for next year's biggest Web3 event! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on ETHDenver 2025—it’s going to be epic! 🌟