# "Privacy is a slow, beautiful struggle" - Evi Nova, Blockchain Engineer | Privacy Academy Interviews

- Channel: [Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress](https://streameth.org/ethereum-cypherpunk-congress)
- Date: 2025-10-07
- Duration: 20:20
- Topics: Education
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-lm6ztlax9Wc
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm6ztlax9Wc

## Description

This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews — our peer-to-peer knowledge project where we explore the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Inspired by the Socratic method, we share deep conversations to learn from each other and grow together: https://academy.web3privacy.info/

In this episode, we talk with Evi Nova, blockchain engineer and smart contract developer, about her journey from trading shitcoins to becoming a core developer in the blockchain space.

Timecodes
00:00 - Introduction: Who is Evi Nova?
00:43 - How Eevee entered blockchain via trading & curiosity
01:55 - Learning to code without a background & becoming a core developer
02:54 - The power of hackathons & in-person blockchain events
03:50 - How to build a personal coding portfolio
04:43 - Why resumes are less relevant in Web3
05:40 - Tips for winning hackathons & avoiding common pitfalls
06:48 - The importance of project presentation in hackathons
07:38 - Managing pressure & perfectionism in hackathons
08:46 - Eevee’s personal evolution on privacy values
09:57 - Why privacy is foundational for social change
11:00 - Political risks & the need for privacy in activism
12:00 - Practical privacy tools & personal habits
13:25 - Cypherpunks then & now: from niche to mainstream relevance
15:00 - The importance of decentralization to prevent systemic corruption
16:30 - How to start improving your personal digital privacy
17:50 - Advice for future privacy tech builders
19:50 - The power of community in the privacy & open-source space

Evi Nova https://x.com/FlowTranquil 

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!

## Transcript

[Music] Um well I'm Eevee Nova. Uh I'm a blockchain engineer. Uh I've been working in the space since 2020. So 5 years now roughly. Um, I got into the space through trading chip coins and then wanting to learn the actual code behind the coins and then I got hooked in by the wonderful world of uh, blockchain. Yeah. So, currently uh, my official title is blockchain engineer. So, but mostly I'm focused on writing solidity smart contracts withine finance. So, just doing a bunch of building for restaking aggregation protocol. For me, I had no uh coding background at all. I never programmed before my life. Maybe a little bit of WordPress, but that barely counts. Um, and then I yeah, started reading the smart contracts for all these tokens I was buying just cuz I didn't want to get scammed. And then I started having more and more people ask me if they could look at the other project's code. Um, and it kind of escalated from there. I did like a a soft audit for a token. Um and then the team invited me to join as an intern. Uh and then a lot of team members quit. So then I kind of became one of the core devs for this this project. And uh thankfully I had a mentor at the project who really helped me a lot. Um like very invaluable. Um and then through there I um worked with them for quite a while and then eventually um I started going to a lot of these blockchain conferences and events uh a lot of these hackathons and eventually through that I uh went on a hackathon where I hacked with two co-founders of the current company I'm with and I got a job through them. So, I guess that's me and I would say generally uh going to in-person events uh and hackathons is is definitely one of the best ways for me at least. Um I think you you have to have that um mentality of like being able to solve problems yourself and being able to go out and figure out solutions um independently. But it's so invaluable if you can find a mentor that can really guide you through that. Um but then yeah, beyond that, it's really the best place to get a job I think is going in person to these events. Uh because you'll meet so many incredible people. Um you'll get off the online I feel like the online to offline for blockchain is very different. Um there's so much more noise online, but in person it's the people actually building the tech uh who are genuinely passionate about it. Um yeah and so I would say yeah get out to these inerson events working on your own projects so you have a portfolio is really important as well. Um because firstly like it's one thing to learn the theoretical like how to write code but actually just just writing code just getting in there and just doing it you learn so quickly like you you come into the common issues and then you have to learn how to solve those issues and that's the bread and butter for any dev. So um just start writing code honestly. Just write projects that inspire you or you think are cool or interesting. Um and then share that with other people um and you know try to collaborate on projects. Contributing to open source projects is like amazing look on your like regime or CV I would say. Um but I also I think in the blockchain space uh uh having like a proper regime CV is not as important as maybe uh other web two jobs. Um obviously it is uh for some roles but a lot of uh a lot of projects will not really care about um they don't care if you can actually do the work and if you can prove that you can do the work with uh open source contributions um or hackathons or whatever then I think that goes a long way. Oh yeah. Uh I guess it's uh maybe not as important in web 3 to have a like a a formal resume or CV as composed to compared to web two. Um because I think a lot more projects I mean there's some projects that will look at that obviously. Uh it is important but if you can just show that you can actually just do the work that's I think uh the most important thing. So that's either having contributions to open source projects or um doing hackathons that you've you know won or even contributed to uh or just having a portfolio of actual code that works you know um yeah that goes a long way as well. Well I I love hackathons honestly. Um, I'm unbiased, I guess, cuz I I won quite a few last year. But, um, they're just, uh, yeah, I really love just being forced into this like pressure cooker, I guess, where you don't have that much time and you're meeting all these people for the first time. Well, depends on your team, but, um, I I think they're amazing. Um, and such a great way to like push your technical skills and learn new skills as well. Um, as for some tips for winning some hackathons, I think uh, well, I think the advice I would give to other people that I seem to follow myself as much as I wish I had did is to come in there with some ideas already so that you're spending as much of the time as possible actually executing the ideas um, rather than spending uh, most of the time brainstorming. Um, coming in with a team already uh, is also good. You really need to maximize your time essentially. Um so having a team already uh set up um having the idea already roughly there is really good uh and also um I would say don't neglect the non-technical side. It's really really important. Like one of the uh most common um ETH Frog I remember actually did like a poll about this and they found that one of the uh biggest issues teams had is that they would stack too heavy on the dev side. Uh and they would neglect the actual presentation. And like you can have the cool I've seen it so many times. I you can have the coolest idea, the you know the most sickest tech ever, but if no one can explain it in like a nice uh presentable way, then no one's going to understand what you built and spent your time on. So um yeah, it's really important to have like that project manager type of person uh who's going around and making sure that your project's in the judges uh headsp space already. So before they even see you for the presenting, they already know what your idea is and they they have an idea of what they should expect. Um yeah, and um I guess also like just have fun with it, you know, like going in with like low expectations and just being there to just see what you can do and build. Um yeah, it takes a little bit of the pressure off. So yeah, you know, cuz you have such a limited time, it's like it's it's easy to get into the pressure grain. Um, and I guess I would elaborate on that as well, is um, it can be easy to get into rabbit holes where uh, don't let uh, perfection be the enemy of good. I think that's the saying, but you know the one, right? Uh, don't go for the most perfect thing. It doesn't have to be the cleanest code. It just has to work enough to present to the judges. And, you know, you can always say, "Oh, yeah, we got to this level and this is what we can present." Um and then the rest is like on the road map, right? But you preferably you need uh something that actually works uh for a demo. That's u yeah priority. I guess like growing up uh I really I didn't value privacy as I do now. Um I I don't think I really ever liked the idea uh that you know that there's this idea that if you have nothing to hide then you know if you're not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to hide you know but I I was always kind of blasze about privacy and was like you know me I don't care what they do with my data whatever but I think over time we've seen again and again uh these companies and like state mis misuse uh trust in them and uh compromise our privacy and that um leads to a lot of bad outcomes generally I would say. Um and I guess just personally um you know uh like being trans it uh it's becoming more and more important to be able to preserve that privacy um you know for like obvious political reasons. Um I think it's um really important to me now to make sure that I can be private if I if I want to. Um, so I think privacy, uh, well, not caring about privacy, I think, is kind of a privilege, uh, because it's easy to have this I don't care about privacy when it doesn't really materially affect you. um when you're in a non-hostile environment um you know but like well firstly even in a non-hostile like kind of environment uh privacy is very important because um you know so many studies done that the way we think and act changes so fundamentally uh even if we just think we're being watched like they've done some study where they have like a post on a wall of eye and even just that alone is enough to make people uh change how the feeling and thinking and so I think it really kind of like cramps you mentally if that makes sense like uh makes you feel a bit restricted. Um but then that's in like the best case scenario and then the worst case scenario is you're in a hostile environment. Um and I'd say as we get into this world where we are seeing less and less privacy for individuals um it's becoming more and more important that if you want to have any kind of uh progressive social change uh privacy is becoming super critical like you know if you think back at um all these different um movements with like civil rights uh you know like um so many civil right movements would never have gotten started if the state could had enacted as much privacy as they wanted to uh exert on their citizens, right? Um so I think the fact that all these movements and organizations had success was because they didn't have to worry about privacy, right? They didn't have to worry, oh, is the government listening in and watching all our uh organizations? I mean, obviously they were going to try to do that, but the technology uh constrained them. But now it's becoming harder and harder uh if you want to um change the state, change the systems that we live in. And I think a lot of the systems that we live in are not perfect. Uh and so they should be changed. And so we want to see that change. Uh privacy is uh the baseline foundational level that we need uh to let these organizations uh ideas flourish. You know, web privacy has some really good tools. um you know just uh I mean there's so many for me what I found really valuable is some of the um short interviews web3 privacy had with people asking what tech stack they're using um you know like making sure that the operating system you're using is something like graphine OS for example on your phone or even just like making sure you're not using uh some of the mainstream social medias um uh so I guess like when it comes to actually integrating uh privacy into the development process. Um, you really just got to like look out and see what the current check is. Uh, especially because the space is moving so quickly um on both sides. You know, the uh privacy defense and privacy uh offense, I guess you could say. Um, constantly trying to one up each other. And so, you just got to go out and look and find what the current status of privacy tech is. Um, and then, yeah, looking to integrate that wherever you can. Um, and then also I guess just being uh very aware of your own uh practices, you know, like using a VPN and the very I'm hoping everyone's using a VPN at the very least. Um, that's kind of like the baseline, right? But then also thinking about metadata. Um, and there's so many more layers to privacy, I guess. Um, but that would be like I guess the start is, uh, yeah, making sure you're using the current tools that are out there. um cuz a lot of the tools as well would not be super easy to integrate into every project, but um I think a lot of them are trying to make it as easy as possible for devs to get in and use their tech. What I can tell, Cypher Punk was um well, Cypher Punk seems to become not mainstream, but it's definitely the ideas uh have become slightly more mainstream, I guess. Uh I feel like Cypher Punk back in the day was quite a a niche movement where they were saying like we I still love the um the manifesto that is beautiful piece um some of the some of the language there is so amazing uh and it was so ahead of its time I think that's why like back in the day it was quite niche because here's these people saying yeah we deserve uh digital autonomy um and privacy um and it is just a little too far out for most people to really properly uh appreciate. But over time, they've just become so validated because we have seen um the state and many organizations try to enroach upon our digital autonomy um and try to strip away our privacy. So, I think um I think back then cyber punk was maybe a little I'm not going to say more abstract, but it was maybe not as necessary for most people. I feel like cyber punks back then like the level of mass surveillance has greatly increased for everybody right now whereas I'd say maybe the surveillance was a lot more targeted back then. Um, so I feel like uh the values of cypher punks are way more relevant today for more people. Um, and I think um the differences between now and then is a lot to do with the tech as well. Um, there's just so many it's become so much more complex now I think to become uh truly private and autonomous um in the digital space. So yeah, we've got a um a bigger battle now, but a more uh pressing battle, I'd say. Um and I I think as time continues to go on, the South Punks are just going to look more and more like the early uh forerunners of, you know, the model that we should have for uh basic online digital interactions. I think just generally um the importance of decentralization um you know like I have so many friends that uh like so why do we need cryptocurrency or why do we need blockchains why do we need this decentralized tech and but this is not a question that people from countries like Argentina or you know Zimbabwe or anywhere where the country's currency has become overinflated like fasy they can see the instant value in having this kind of decentralized digital money. And I I think in general centralized systems historically we've seen time and time again are so open to corruption um to manipulation and they generally lead to worse outcomes for the masses. And so I think if we ever want to have any kind of chance at building better systems then we need to move towards decentralized systems that are not so easily controlled by small groups of people who tend to continue the centralization so that they continue to have more and more power. Um and we I mean we see that on many different levels. Um even just on a wealth inequality level it's it's already really bad and it just seems to be getting worse and worse. Um and so uh I I guess for me I haven't completely given up on changing the system from within. Um I think it's very important and we try to um use as many uh levers as we have in our disposal and push every button that we can but I I feel like we really need to build an alternative system that can act as at the very least um even if the alternative system isn't perfect. It's even just having one alternative, it's better than a monopoly, you know. So even if you have some level of competition, it'll should raise the bar for the current systems we have. Um, so yeah, I I really think decentralization is one of the only paths we have to uh fixing the horrible mess that we seem to have gotten ourselves into. I think the first thing is just looking at um like doing like a a digital audit of yourself. I guess in a sense like how what tech am I using? Um is it at like a you know acceptable level but like is it at like could it be better you know like is it any apps that I'm using that um would be better to be replaced or used by ones that are more privacy preserving. Um so I already mentioned like even just using like uh like for me I've um really started to shift away from I don't even know why but most of the industry is still using telegram. Um so but shifting to to Signal is a big improvement. Um uh you know moving from like Discord to like Matrix or um like Fetti, you know, some of these other uh more decentralized alternatives. Um for me, I think also like it can be really overwhelming, you know, because there's so it feels like there's a lot to do in a sense. So I think just taking it step by step and just slowly trying to make those changes so that it's not so u much of a big radical change I think it's easier to then build those habits that become lasting. Um, so and then even just like uh yeah, just like being p being mindful of uh the sources of information where I'm getting them from uh and just I guess trying to stay as up to date as possible with uh all the current privacy tech um and all the uh the things happening in this movement. Um just trying to stay on top of it all. Yeah. Firstly, I'd say it's uh amazing that uh you know, people uh like you want to um build the next generation of privacy tech that we're probably all going to be relying on at some point. Uh I think it's needed more now than ever before in human history. Um it's probably going to become more and more relevant. I think um not getting too overwhelmed with it all, just diving in, doing what you can. um just putting yourself out there uh whether that's online you know contributing to projects uh even just like talking to people um or whether it's in person uh you know obviously that's a bit privacy compromising in a sense but there's a lot of really amazing people um I think finding that community that uh that's really important because um yeah it keeps you in there you know uh knowing that there's other people that care as much is as you do uh about same kind of have the same kind of values um and I wish anyone joining us the best of luck um yeah it's really really important stuff so thank you [Music]