At the Bitcoin 2024 conference, renowned journalist Edward Snowden gave a powerful speech highlighting the pitfalls of political dependence and privacy concerns surrounding Bitcoin. The former CIA and NSA employee urged people to get involved in voting but warned against blindly following political ideologies.
Snowden also expressed significant concerns about Bitcoin's privacy issues. He stated that Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous and can be traced to individuals, which poses a risk to personal privacy. Despite the common misconception that Bitcoin transfers offer complete anonymity, Snowden explained that most transactions can be linked through various entry and exit points, such as exchanges that comply with regulatory requirements.
“They know what you read, what you buy, who you send Bitcoin to, who you support politically, where your donations go, for example, they have it all,” Snowden said.
The former NSA employee warned of broader implications of transaction tracking for all types of digital transactions, not just BTC. He discussed how governments and companies can use this data using artificial intelligence (AI) and create detailed profiles of individuals without their consent.
*This is not investment advice.