'Power to the People': Privacy Was the Rallying Cry of Berlin's Web3 Summit

It may seem trivial in some cases, but digital anonymity is no joking matter to American whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden.

"We need someone to be able to post something truly idiotic on the internet and not have it haunt them for the rest of their lives," he said through a webcam to a crowd of roughly 1,000 at the Web3 Summit in Berlin.

"To be able to engage in private trade is one of the basic human freedoms," Snowden said during his Tuesday keynote.

While statements pushing for greater data privacy through encryption were by no means new for the former Central Intelligence Agency contractor, Snowden's words resonated deeply with the audience, which was comprised mostly of blockchain developers.

"We want you [the user] to think very seriously about privacy. [Nym] tries to make it technically impossible, and not just legally difficult, to break privacy."

Also championing the cause of data privacy was cryptocurrency pioneer David Chaum, who unveiled a new cryptocurrency called Praxxis on Tuesday to support his private messaging platform, Elixxir.

Privacy is core part of the Web3 movement, said Gavin Wood.

The ethereum co-founder, Polkdaot creator and initial coiner of the term "Web3," took the stage touting the "Social vision" of a decentralized internet.

In this way, Snowden's debut at Web3 Summit was a full-circle moment: one that reaffirmed data privacy as being on the forefront of the minds of blockchain developers.

Edward Snowden speaks via video link at Web3 Summit 2019.