# Monflo | Why Crypto-Anarchism Still Matters - Chhay Lin Lim | Common S3nse - 2026

- Channel: [CryptoCanal](https://streameth.org/cryptocanal)
- Date: 2026-09-25
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-mK1JvSMh9n8
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK1JvSMh9n8

## Transcript

And on that note, the day is not over yet, gentlemen not over yet, gentlemen , ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to invite my favorite local libertarian to the stage, who... libertarian to the stage, who... yeah, okay. What? I didn't do it on purpose. do it on purpose. I invited Shailene to give his most strident libertarian speech. Please greet him with warm, very warm applause. Do you want me to hold this for you? So, I can't vote for him because it turns out he's retired from politics. But 10 years ago, as we learned on the panel, he ran for the Libertarian Party. And I thought that after all that was said, it was important to conclude this event with a few important speeches. So Shay will remind us of the values ​​of this space. Then Leah will give a very important talk about Lora, mesh networks, and how we can build better privacy and communication systems. I'll let her do it let her do it , and now it's your turn. No fluff or feathers. Yes, thank you very much, Eleanor. Oh, I didn't know I would be one of the last speakers, and that you would put me in an awkward position. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, so first I want to talk about how I became a crypto-anarchist, and I think the word " word " crypto-anarchism" is used far too rarely. Often when we talk about this space and our values, we mention the values ​​of cypherpunks values ​​of cypherpunks , right? But cryptoanarchists existed before the emergence of cryptopunks. I'm talking about the crypto-anarchists of the 80s who sought to invent digital anonymous money. So, to start with: why, why was I even interested in this? To understand this, I want to briefly tell my story. And then you will understand my journey from birthplace to full-fledged crypto-anarchist, and now founder of a crypto company working with Monero. So, my, my parents are from Cambodia. I think most of you already know what happened in Cambodia in the 1960s. In the 1960s, a secret war was waged in Cambodia under Nixon's leadership, and Cambodia was bombed. They bombed Cambodia because the Vietnamese, the communist Vietnamese, were using Cambodian territory as a logistical route to move weapons and ammunition, right? So Cambodia was bombed secretly. Cambodia was bombed so heavily that the amount of explosives dropped on it was even greater than that dropped on Japan during World War II. There was a big, huge upheaval huge upheaval . And it was under this pressure, during this upheaval, that the communist regime in Cambodia was able to take control of the country. And as soon as they took control of the country , they sent everyone to labor camps, to work in the countryside. So, if you worked in a city like Phnom Penh, you were forced to go to the countryside and start working for Angkor. Angkar means organization, and organization means communist government. Unfortunately, my parents didn't survive those times very well. They lost 40% of their close relatives, both on their mother's and father's sides. But then they managed to escape all the way from the southern part of Cambodia, from the central-southern part, up north, to Thailand, and it was in one of those refugee camps in Thailand that I was born. And if I remember, if I remember well, what my mother, who has already passed away, said about the Netherlands, it is very impressive. This has a lot to do with what we just discussed this morning. When we were talking about the Netherlands and whether there was still enough freedom in the Netherlands. My mother said that, on the one hand, it's much better in the Netherlands . On the one hand, it's almost paradise compared to where she came from. On the other hand, my mother worked two jobs. She picked strawberries in the morning and worked at McDonald's in the afternoon and evening. My dad did the same thing . He also worked two jobs. But they always complained about taxes. They always complained, "Why am I working so hard for my children's future? And why do I have to pay so much to the government?" They also felt they were not getting enough in return. Eventually, my mother even believed that there wasn't enough freedom in the Netherlands and decided that Cambodia now gave them more freedom. So in 2009, she moved to Cambodia. There she started her own farm and stuff before she died of cancer. What my parents taught me is that no matter where you live, it's very important to feel at home. It is there that you can find or it is there that you can feel free. You are free, as Hegel said: freedom is when you feel at home in the world. When I was in a refugee camp, I grew up there until I was almost 5 years old. I saw my parents trying to make extra money. My parents brewed alcohol, which was forbidden in the camp. But they did it anyway , and every now and then a Thai soldier would come and say, "What you're doing is forbidden you're doing is forbidden ." So my parents gave them some money as a bribe. A few bribes and they were off. What was also forbidden in the camp was having your own shop. But my mother had her own shop where she sold various things. Um, for example, rice or soy sauce. Ahem. And then sometimes the police would come and say, "No, you're not allowed to do that." A few bribes and he left. We weren't allowed to leave the camp either, but my dad would sometimes go out at night to work for the local Thais, like chopping firewood, earning some Thai baht and bringing it back to the camp. If he were discovered, Thai soldiers could beat him. Blah blah blah blah beat him. Blah blah blah blah . Very, very terrible. But what does this teach me? This teaches me, and I hope it resonates with you, that no matter where you live you, that no matter where you live , you will always exercise your freedom. And no matter how much freedom you have, you will always use it to improve your life. Isn't that right? So, in 1991 we came to the Netherlands. I was about 5 years old. And I started thinking, " Damn, this is so terrible that there's a central institution that can kill how many people? 2 million people? 2.5 million people?" We do n't even know how many people died. That's about 20–25% of the population, right? So I, as a young student, started thinking, "What can we do about this?" I started reading more and more philosophy. And one of the most amazing philosophers I discovered as a young student was Nietzsche. And Nietzsche explains very well what is wrong with the state. And I want to read this to you. Nietzsche says that the state is called the coldest of all cold monsters. She lies coldly. And this lie creeps out of her mouth. I, the state, am the people. But that's a lie. We are not the state, and the state is not us. We must stop talking about the state as if we are an extension of it, or as if the state is an extension of us. We are extension of us. We are individuals. I am for individual sovereignty. This morning we talked about the Netherlands. I felt a little awkward, well, like that awkward, well, like that . Some people talk about pride in being Dutch. Pride for the Netherlands. I don't care that I'm Dutch. I don't give a damn about the Netherlands. Our community is important to me. I want to live among people who share my values. If you share my values, but you don't live in the Netherlands, but in France, I don't care France, I don't care . I love you just as much as if you lived next to me, you know? Values ​​are much more important than the state. Don't let the state define our identity. Then, in 2011, I started running for the Libertarian Party. I thought, yes, through politics they would change the world. They will make the Netherlands, we will make the world much freer. But then I realized that every time I tried to convince someone of my political views, that privacy is important, why we need less government, it was so hard. I'm sure you also have this problem when you talk to someone about politics. So I had a new idea: from now on, I will only promote ideas that bring people closer to my philosophy. These are ideas related to creating something, because people like to build things. People love creative things. And when I came across Bitcoin in 2011-2012, I realized: this is the technology that I will promote from now on promote from now on . Once people start using Bitcoin, the government will become smaller, they will be able to tax us less . And ultimately we will live in a freer, more libertarian society. Unfortunately, I think Bitcoin has gone down the wrong path. Maybe there are Bitcoin maximalists here Bitcoin maximalists here . I don't care if you're a Bitcoin maximalist, but I'll say it anyway. I think Bitcoin really sucks right now. Bitcoin is a tracking coin. You can use Chainalysis to analyze all Bitcoin transactions . This is not what I signed up for when I started accepting Bitcoin. Back in 2011-2012, I thought it would only take a few years for Bitcoin to become fully private. This did not happen. I am very, very disappointed in this. And so my heart is more with Monero and Zcash right now. I like what Zcash is doing. Previously a secret network where I knew Brin. This is, in short, my journey from a little boy born in a refugee camp to what I call crypto-anarchism. Cryptoanarchism is very important to me because it means using cryptography to create a society that is anarchist. So what do I mean by anarchy in this case? By anarchy I don't mean the absence of the absence of any rules. What I mean is that at the metasystem level—if you've read Robert Nozick, you probably know what I'm talking about— know what I'm talking about— you allow multiple systems to exist side by side. And as long as people have the freedom to exit, they can choose the system they feel most comfortable with. This can be compared to the words of Mao Zedong. When he said, "Let thousands of flowers bloom." Then he wanted people to express their ideas and start criticizing the government. Of course, Mao used this to identify those who criticized too harshly and destroy them. But the same idea applies here: let thousands of systems coexist side by side. Let them find their way, let them flourish, and let people find a way out into a society where they feel at home. And I think I found that in the technology space as well. I see it. I like the idea that you can do a hard fork of the blockchain. I think it's a good thing that Bitcoin has actually branched out. I think branched out. I think it's good that we have BTC, BCH and all the other networks and coins. Because then people can find values. Sorry, they find the systems that best align with their values, right? So, I'm not a maximalist. I am a person who believes that the right to leave is the most important right you can have. And it should be applied not only in politics or technology, but everywhere in life. I didn't have much time to prepare this speech, so I made a small list of theses that support my statement. Therefore. Why is it so important for people to be able to find systems that align with their values? This is important values? This is important because we must accept the most fundamental fact of life. This is also the most important basic fact in political philosophy political philosophy : we live in a society with pluralistic values. My values are different from yours, even though we are probably very close in views, and your values are different from the values ​​of those outside this building. So, given the basic fact that we live in a society with many values, what should we do when we try to organize society? We have to organize society in a way that gives people the opportunity to get out, right? And the problem here is not the differences themselves. The problem is that there is currently no real alternative where people could go. The government now has a monopoly on land. It's very difficult to break out of this. I can't just go to the Netherlands and say I want this huge piece of land and experiment with a new society here. They won't agree to that . What's cool about cryptopunks and cryptoanarchists is that they turned that philosophy on its head and said, well, you know what? We ca n't do it physically, but we can technologically. We can create technologies that offer them ways out of the system. If I don't like fiat, I just use Bitcoin. I just use Bitcoin use Bitcoin . I just use Zeno. I just use the "freedom dollar", FUSD. So, my suggestion is that we should stop looking for one system that is best for everyone. A universal system will not work. My suggestion is to stop trying to design an ideal society ideal society . Let's think about how to allow more experimentation with different systems, and create technologies for people to get out. And the crypt is a very important part of this. If we do this, we can make societies " societies " forked." Thank you very much. Do we have any questions for Chai? I will take questions from the floor. Yes. I'm not sure if you're familiar with privacy pools and evidence of innocence, but do you have any perspective on this ? Um, what, what was the second thing you said next to privacy pools? No? For example, Railgun and privacy pools have a mechanism where you prove that you are not part of a blacklist . And usually these blacklists are compiled taking into account the interests of Western governments. Um, to be honest, I don't really support that. And the reason my feeling has only grown stronger since I've been running Monero is that we have a huge problem with what should be blacklisted and what shouldn't. About five companies in the world provide aggregated data on who to sanction and who not to sanction. Yes? Who is a PEP (politically exposed person) and who is not. So when we try to connect a financial institution, the solution is based on 80% of the people in the world, right? Based on these five companies. So I five companies. So I , I don't, I think this, I think this, I think this is extremely dangerous. So, these individuals are very cool, but if they depend on a list of these five companies, I think it's very dangerous. Good. Thank you. Anyone else? Can I ask? I know we've discussed this behind the scenes, but as an ardent libertarian who strives for freedom, how do you grapple with creating a centralized platform with full KYC verification? Oh, it's an almost daily moral dilemma. On the one hand, I truly believe that people should have complete control over their assets. They should be able to conduct transactions without constant supervision, right? But, because we are regulated, we also have to track transactions. And to do this, we use a company that we all hate here. I know you know who I'm talking about—Chainalysis. Israeli company Israeli company . I even hate them even more now that I found out recently that they actually run the Tornado Cash relayer and even testified in court against them. But, yeah, that's just my Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is, they are like traitors to the Tornado Cash case. Yes. Yes, this is indeed a moral dilemma. But on the other hand, my vision is much broader than just the next 5 or even 10 years. I think the right strategy for our development —I don't know what you think about this, but I think for Monero—is to be fully compliant, to operate within the law, but as minimalist as possible. And over time, we continue to support fully private technologies where people can truly opt out . But this takes time. And my goal here is not just to help those who are already tech- savvy. We know savvy. We know that everyone in this room knows how self- storage works. You just gave me a wallet and I immediately understand how it works, right? But we don't really have the right tools, the right interfaces, to engage grandma or grandpa. And if I look at Monero, most of the people using Monero are over 50 years old. It's very difficult for them because you have their full KYC. You know exactly who is using it. This is true. This is true. But if we gave them a self- storage wallet, I think it would be very difficult for them to start the transition from fiat to cryptocurrency and then make it more anonymous, maybe through mixers or No. No. Well, thank you, Tai. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for joining Thank you very much for joining . This all makes sense.