The Cypherpunk Revolution with Austin Hill - WBD446

Location: New York
Date: Tuesday 7th December
Company: Former CEO of Blockstream
Role: Entrepreneur, VC & Cypherpunk


Many are still ignorant of the cypherpunk movement. Yet, it is
arguably one of the most consequential enterprises in the history
of man.  


The rise of civilization has been marked by a slow shift from
centralized control to increasing levels of individual
sovereignty. This was accelerated by the industrial revolution,
with political institutions adapting to facilitate increasing
levels of democracy. 


Democracy peaked in 1990's: Francis Fukuyama predicted in 1992
universalization of liberal democracy would lead to 'The End of
History'. But in only a generation, this certainty of the future
has been lost. We are now at a critical junction, where many fear
technology could allow for a permanent totalitarian structuring
of society. 


Cypherpunks seek to ensure the balance of power is in the hands
of the individual. Foreseeing the inherent danger to maintaining
an open society in the electronic age, they have and continue to
devise privacy-enhancing technologies. "We know that someone has
to write software to defend privacy, and ... we're going to write
it." A Cypherpunk's Manifesto (Eric Hughes, 1993). 


The future role of the individual, and the essence of
civilization, is in the hands of an informal, diligent,
dispersed, and largely unheralded cohort of computer and
cryptography experts. 


I sat down with Austin Hill, one of the original converts to the
cypherpunk movement, and more lately, a pivotal safeguarding
figure for Bitcoin. In the first of two successive interviews to
be released, we discuss how he discovered the cypherpunks, his
challenging early endeavours, a reawakening through Bitcoin, and
the risks and opportunities for the future.