Prying eyes, eavesdropping ears, clawing hands… Today’s internet is dark forest full of predators and parasites, ready to exploit the unwary and unprotected. We must do better.
We envision a world where ordinary people can freely and confidently conduct their digital affairs, aware and equipped to face the ever-present threats. A world where privacy by design is the norm.
Cypherpunks are advocates for the widespread use of strong cryptography and technologies that enhance privacy and self-sovereignty. The movement began in the 1980s, but the name was coined in 1992, followed by Eric Hughes’ 1993 A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto. Notable achievements by cypherpunks include the creation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), PGP, SSL, SSH, BitTorrent, Tor, WikiLeaks, Bitcoin, smart contracts, Zcash, and Signal. A great introduction is Reason TV’s short documentary, Cypherpunks Write Code.
The “cypherpunk” name was a pun based on “cyberpunk”. “Cipher”—an encryption-decryption algorithm—comes from the Arabic word for zero. So “cypherpunk” should not be confused with cyberpunk--cypherpunks are a movement based on a philosophy, while cyberpunk is a genre and Blade Runner aesthetic. And, despite their shared fondness for masks, cypherpunks should not be confused with Anonymous: cypherpunks defend, Anonymous attacks.
The Cypherpunk Guild Council consists of:
Arto Bendiken
arto.near
Autodidact, cypherpunk, entrepreneur, and prolific open-source author.
Evgeny Kuzyakov
ek.near
ICPC gold medalist who served years in Big Tech before leaving to pursue machine learning and blockchain.
Jon Matonis
matonis.near
Director and Chief Economist at Cypherpunk Holdings, monetary economist, a founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation and a financial columnist.
Ozymandius
ozymandius.near
Digital nomad, NEAR advocate, and founder of 4NTS Guild.
Dani Osorio
waverlymaven.near
Dartmouth grad and veteran of high-growth startups and the Ethereum ecosystem.
Frank Braun
frankbraun.near
Cypherpunk, cryptoanarchist, and co-host of the Cypherpunk Bitstream podcast.
Yulian
yulian.near
Generalist with 5+ years of experience in High Growth tech companies.
Currently we do not give out new grants.
Below are some of the organizations and projects that the Cypherpunk Guild has had the honor of supporting:
ZeroPool
ZeroPool is a multi-blockchain, ZKP-based solution for transaction privacy.
Incognito
The privacy marketplace for crypto assets.
Zecrey
Bringing privacy to digital assets.
NYM
Privacy-infrastructure gurus Nym are producing a ZKP study for the CPG and NEAR.
Unicrow
Unstoppable escrow for cryptocurrency payments. No 3rd party necessary, no censorship possible. Built for marketplace developers and their users.
As a Swiss non-profit association, the Cypherpunk Guild is funded by donors who support our mission.
The founding donor is the NEAR Foundation, steward of the NEAR Protocol, that is enabling a world where people have control over their money, data, and power of governance. Learn More
Another generous donor is the Open Web Collective, a blockchain accelerator and community pioneering the Open Web: a future where users can manage their identity, privacy, money, and data. Learn More
The Cypherpunk Guild welcomes other donors, large and small. If you would like to contribute, please contact us or use one of the methods below.
Bitcoin (BTC): 35jD1rozb1H97y3ctDMJPKnPMC3T9TJDQE
Ethereum (ETH): 0xF6A17cec86220C28A5F839b828797E3cfEbCB5cd
NEAR: cypherpunkguild.near
Decred (DCR): DsSu1toUhqZA2d4CVUuhRa8t173Sf1Bbnz1
Monero (XMR): 8AgZMniMuLxNo7vvULrPZvCqNLznscfSjHSQ5cJyfsYA5HdURpv1cAhFXT8NqVxUhxU4c6zrB8T335QwLqxKc1tDFkFh4Bb
Zcash (ZEC): t1P5rxu6PTVqtvEV6YGaxugYdFsftY4jgey
If you share the cypherpunk philosophy, get involved! It’s true, “Cypherpunks code”, but there are other ways to contribute. If you have an itch, scratch it.
You can join the discussion in several venues:
