Why Crypto Privacy is Important with Monero's Riccardo "FluffyPony" Spagni

Interview location: Skype
Interview date: Thu 13th September 2018
Company: Tari (and Monero core team member)
Role: Co-founder

David Chaum said that “Privacy is tied to human potential, an important aspect of democracy”, yet increasingly we are finding our lives are being tracked, both commercially and via the government. We blindly provide Internet giants such as Facebook and Google with massive amounts of data about who we are, what we do and the things we buy.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal highlighted how are data is abused and used to manipulate us. There is now an uprising, a growth in awareness of the value of privacy. People are hiding their browsing activity, and Internet giants are under pressure to be more responsible with data.

In this episode, I talk to Riccardo “FluffPony” Spagni, core team member of Monero, a privacy-based cryptocurrency. Monero is often accused of being a tool for the criminals and drug dealers, but Monero is a tool for financial privacy, a way for us to keep our economic activities and transactions private.

In this episode we discuss:
- The importance of privacy
- Why there is apathy towards privacy
- Riccardo’s new project Tari
- Privacy tools
- The potential for a privacy web stack
- What is coming up for Monero

-----

Connect with Riccardo:
- On Twitter @fluffypony
- On Medium
- On CrunchBase

Connect with Monero:
- Website: https://getmonero.org/ & https://monero.org/
- On Twitter @monero
- On Reddit
- On StackExchange

Connect with Tari:
- Website: https://www.tari.com/
- On Twitter @tari

Other interviews
- With Ivan on Tech
- With Max Keiser
- With Jimmy Song

Other Important Content:
- Riccardo’s presentation on The Future of Monero
- The Guardian: The Cambridge Analytics Files

Privacy Tools:
- Brave browser
- Tor Browser
- Opera Browser
- Wire

Other Mentions:
- Diar Newsletter
- Nathaniel Whittemore’s Long Reads Sunday Newsletter

Other relevant WBD podcasts:
- WBD 027: Lyn Ulbricht
- WBD 022: Erik Voorhees
- WBD 010: Lyn Ulbricht
- WBD 009: Morgan Rockwell

-----

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show my doing the following:

Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute

Make a tip:
Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S
QR Codes: Bitcoin | Ethereum | Litecoin | Monero | ZCash | Ripplecoin
If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you

Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | TuneIn | RSS Feed

Leave a review on iTunes

Share the show and episodes with your friends and family

Subscribe to the newsletter on my website

Follow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTube

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.