Hello again, dear readers. Today we will talk again about the Web 3.0 ecosystem. More precisely, I will talk and you will listen. Then what is this Cypherpunk concept, let’s start with that first.
Cypherpunk is defined as an anti-establishment movement that emerged in the late 1980s. Cypherpunk is derived from the word “cypher”, meaning an algorithm that encodes and decodes data in special ways (in the Web 3.0 ecosystem, mostly cryptographic ways), and “punk”, meaning anti-establishment. In the cypherpunk movement, cryptography was used to defend personal privacy and freedom.
Actually, today I want to talk about who the important cypherpunks are rather than what the concept of cypherpunk is. Let’s start with Adam Back…
1- Adam Back
Adam Back is a cyrptographer and cypherpunk born in London in 1970. In his youth he learned Basic software language by his own efforts. As a teenager, he spent most of his time reverse engineering video games. Back completed his PhD at the University of Exeter, where he became interested in topics such as PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encryption and electronic cash. During his PhD, he spent most of his time working on encryption. As a result of this work, he invented hashcash, which is used in Bitcoin mining. In hashcash, the client has to combine a random number with a string several times and hash this new string. It then has to do this over and over again until a hash starting with a certain amount of zeros is found. Bitcoin uses a very similar system. For reasons such as the fact that Bitcoin uses a system very similar to this system, for a period of time, people wondered “is Sathoshi Nakamoto Adam Back?”. Adam Back is currently the CEO of Blockstream, a company he co-founded in 2014.
2- David Chaum
David Chaum is a computer scientist, cryptographer, cypherpunk and inventor born in Los Angeles in 1955. He is often referred to as the father of cryptocurrency. A graduate of the University of California, Chaum published his thesis “Computer Systems Built, Protected and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups” in 1985, which was the first known blockchain protocol proposal. This thesis is considered to be a very important source for Sathoshi Nakamoto. In 1995, David Chaum introduced eCash, the world’s first digital currency, with his company DigiCash. Although DigiCash never fully took off, it laid the foundation for the cryptocurrency world that exists today. Apart from encryption, Chaum also worked on secure election systems. Concerned by studies showing that trust in democracy has fallen below 50% in all but a few countries around the world, Chaum said, “Once people stop believing that democracy works, it’s game over” which is one of the main reasons why he founded the XX Network, an easy-to-use, private and scalable platform for messaging and payments. In 2018, Chaum developed a new blockchain system called Elixxir, which provides privacy for its users’ communications and money transfers, unlike the current setup where companies have detailed access to consumer information. Elixxir, a messaging and financial platform, is a system that hides metadata and provides a very high degree of consumer privacy and security. Chaum is a true Web3 legend who has spent a lifetime working on encryption and privacy issues.
3- Nick Szabo
Nick Szabo, born in 1964, is a Hungarian-born computer scientist, CypherPunk, author and former law professor at George Washington University. He first proposed the idea of smart contracts in 1990 and is best known for it. In 1998, he published what is considered the first official description of smart contracts, “Smart Contracts: Building Blocks for Digital Free Markets”, which is considered the first official description of smart contracts. This paper introduced the concept of using Blockchain technology to fulfill contract terms. One of Nick Szabo’s greatest contributions to Web3 began with the following quote “All the money that man has ever used has been unreliable in one way or another. This unreliability has manifested itself in many ways, from counterfeiting to theft, but most damagingly in the form of inflation.” Nick Szabo’s 2005 blog titled “Bitgold” was actually an answer to the above question. The idea of Bitgold never materialized, but these words came to life in bitcoin. He also developed a programming language called E-Lisp and wrote a book on cryptography and security titled “Secrets, Lies and Digital Cash”. Nick Szabo is also one of the closest people to being Sathoshi Nakamoto, so much so that; In 2014, Aston University’s Center for Forensic Linguistics conducted a study that found that Szabo and Nakamoto’s languages were very similar in the technical analysis of Bitcoin.Furthermore, even the Bitcoin whitepaper was apparently prepared using an open-source document known as ‘Latex’, which Szabo uses for his publications. Elon Musk also commented on this, saying: “It seems that Nick Szabo is probably more responsible for the development of these ideas than anyone else.” Despite all the ideas and theories, Nick Szabo has denied them many times and once said: “All I’m saying is that there are all these parallels and it seems funny to me and it seems funny to many other people; (…) all this speculation is flattering but wrong; I’m not Satoshi.”
Nick Szabo is currently the co-founder of a company called Blockstream. He also advises various companies and projects in the blockchain space on digital contracts and virtual currencies. He is an advisor to the Ethereum foundation and a board member of the Bitcoin foundation. He is also a founding member of the CryptoCurrency Security Standard (CCSS) project.
4- Hal Finney
Hal Finney was born in California in 1956. He is a top computer scientist, cryptographer and cypherpunks. After graduating from Caltech in 1979, he decided to focus on digital privacy and security. Finney made a significant contribution to the field of cryptography, especially with his work on Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), an email encryption program known for its privacy and authentication. Finney’s work was realized in 1991 by Phil Zimmermann, a renowned cryptographer and key figure in the cypherpunk movement. Finney’s groundbreaking research on PGP encryption was an event that greatly influenced the cryptography community. Finney demonstrated his vision in cryptography by creating the first reusable proof-of-work (RPoW) system before the creation of Bitcoin. Finney’s most well-known event in the world of blockchain and cryptography is the creation of the first bitcoin transaction. He was then among the first to respond to Sathoshi Nakamoto’s publication of a white paper on bitcoin. Finney was a regular participant in online forums and sessions, speaking about freedom, privacy and the democratization of finance. He was well aware of the speculative aspect of cryptocurrency. In 2009, Finney developed a paralyzing neurological disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Despite his illness, he was working to build an innovative bitcoin wallet that formed the basis of many current coin wallets. He said that although ALS slowed him down significantly, his passion for programming remained and provided him with goals and objectives. His family used the bitcoins Hal Finney mined to pay for his medical care. On August 28, 2014, Finney passed away from ALS, and at his request, his body was frozen at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. We honor and remember Hal Finney, who brought a new horizon and a new perspective to the industry and did so much for humanity…
5- Martti Malmi
Martti Malmi is recognized as one of the first developers and supporters of Bitcoin after Satoshi Nakamoto. Malmi, a Finnish developer and cypherpunks, was a university student when he was first introduced to Bitcoin. After Bitcoin became interesting to him, he became one of the first developers of Bitcoin. In 2009, he became the first person to complete a Bitcoin to USD trade, selling 5000 BTC for $5. In addition to building Bitcoin’s website, he founded the first Bitcoin exchange in 2010 with Nakamoto’s support and approval, using 30,000 of his own BTC to act as the sole market maker on the exchange. His efforts enabled hundreds of users to join Bitcoin through the exchange. According to an old 2020 tweet, Malmi spent 10,000 BTC on a house in 2011 when Bitcoin was trading at around $30, making his purchase one of the first major real-world uses of Bitcoin. Records show that Malmi has sold about 55,000 BTC over the years, mainly to help the ecosystem thrive. This BTC would be worth more than $3 billion today. He is one of the few people to have exchanged emails with Sathoshi Nakamoto, and there have been several lawsuits claiming that he is Sathoshi. This altruistic person has spent 3 billion dollars for humanity, even if not directly, so I think we owe him a debt of gratitude. Malmi is currently the CEO of “Sirius Bussines”, a company that focuses on decentralized social media.
-All these names have made great sacrifices for the Web 3.0 ecosystem. Each of them are legends who devoted their lives to this ecosystem. As Mirza Koçak, the author of this blog, I would like to thank each of them individually on behalf of myself and humanity. I think Robin Hood’s quote explains what these people have done very well: “I have never hesitated to leave my own comfort and fight for my people.” See you in the next Blog. Sayonara!