Interview – Supporter of the cypherpunk movement, Frenchman Julien Guyton considers that only bitcoin can protect his privacy. Meet him BFM Crypto.
In 1988 he appeared “The Anarchist Crypto Manifesto” by Timothy May, which aims to put individuals back in control of their privacy through encryption. A few years later, in 1993, Eric Hughes was published “Cypherpunk Manifesto”. These foundational texts, which are references to individuals who call themselves “crypto-anarchists,” gave real meaning to Bitcoin, which came out in 2009.
BFM Crypto met one of them, Frenchman Julien Guiton. Today, he is a strong advocate for this movement in France. He also produced a French translation of Eric Hughes’ Manifesto, which he sent to people asking for it, and of which an excerpt is here.
“Privacy is essential for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not a secret. Private is what an individual does not want the whole world to know, but secret is what an individual does not want anyone to know. Privacy is the ability to selectively reveal oneself to the world,” he explains. “Cypherpunk Manifesto” By Eric Hughes, as translated by Julian Guyton.
This 42-year-old computer professional has shown us the importance of bitcoin in protecting his privacy. For him, bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency: it is a currency.
BFM Crypto: When did you discover bitcoin?
Julian Jetton: I first learned about the cypherpunk movement, then discovered Bitcoin, around the end of 2011. Then I discovered the French Bitcoin community via CryptoFR Slack. At that time, I wondered a lot about economics and finance, especially after the financial crisis of 2008. It was then that I discovered the world of money, and in particular what is currency in the sense of Aristotle. Basically, I’m not from the financial world, I wrote my first computer program at the age of 9 and have been in IT for 19 years. I like the machine, it is sometimes more fun than a person.
At the time, we weren’t talking about blockchain, which came to an end later in 2013. We were talking about mining, “proof of work”, double spending, and anti-censorship. We were talking more about the technology that made it possible to have systems where a third party wasn’t necessary. There was a monetary aspect but there was never a blockchain ecosystem as developed today.
How did you deal with bitcoin?
I’m not a trader, and I’m not a good poker player (He laughed). When I became interested in bitcoin I re-read what cypherpunks wrote with maybe a bit more political angle. It was impossible to believe this data before the advent of Bitcoin. This is the data that has been saying since the 1980s that the country has no leeway in cyberspace. For me, these statements are almost legislative documents. Code is law. Savers have shown us the terms of privacy practice in the 21st century. For my part, I’m still more politicized than cipher, and consider myself a crypto anarchist.
that by saying?
In a way, the state doesn’t want you to have a private life, but I have a private life thanks to bitcoin. I don’t want people to know how I manage my financial life. So of course, I’m not going to pay everything in bitcoin, I’m also going to use fiat currency. But I will prefer cash over a bank card, and I will use my credit card for certain services, but if I want to take a train, travel, or otherwise, I prefer to be conservative and bitcoin is the answer. When I hear a designated MEP say that owning private keys is a setback compared to the current banking system, I feel surprised.
Bitcoin to me is a currency, not a cryptocurrency. Bitcoin takes the principles of a unit of account, store of value, and medium of exchange in the same way that Aristotle defines money. In addition, bitcoin must be pseudonymous (when I buy a magazine, the seller doesn’t need to know who I am), bitcoin must be uncensored (when I want to make a transaction I can’t prevent it from doing so) and bitcoin must be uncensored. Mutable (no one can cheat it, change the value, increase the number of units, or tamper with the protocol). Bitcoin is humanity’s spare wheel to avoid capture by the state.
Within a few years, French and European authorities looked into bitcoin, seeking to better regulate it. what do you think
I think bitcoin is about privacy and empowering people. In fact, France, like Europe, is not affected by bitcoin, since cryptocurrencies are not in its jurisdiction. In fact, any desire to legislate on bitcoin remains useless. Mika wants to keep the old world in place (MiCa for Market in Crypto Assets, European regulation that should come into force in Europe in 2024, ed.). MiCa wants to control the market that they can get away with and can no longer tax, we want people to not be able to get away with that. Europe must miss all its MiCas before it realizes it will never make it.
Similarly, Europe wants to launch its own central bank digital currency (MNBC) by 2026, but what goal should a citizen choose between a bitcoin that allows to be free and a digital currency that can only be used under certain conditions? MiCa will result in the mouse, everyone and us will ignore it first. All players in Europe will move to areas where it will be easier, it will be like the Internet. Europe again loses the turning point of the revolution, here cash.
However, the state can decide to ban bitcoin, right?
Yes, these scenarios have already been considered by cypherpunks in computer security. They practice counter-thinking that is deceptively paranoid. I think those people who participate in society will always be ten steps ahead of what states can do. The only country that can ban bitcoin is the United States, due to its reserve currency status (the dollar, editor’s note). Wanting to ban bitcoin is like wanting to ban dollars. Even China does not.
If a country wants to ban bitcoin, they can do that and welcome it, but people can still stay on the blockchain, they can even send each other bitcoin transactions by pigeon, yes it is possible. In fact, once a country chooses to ban bitcoin, cypherpunks will come up with a new line of code to get around it. The truth is that thanks to Bitcoin we are free.
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