Use crypto but don't invest in it: Edward Snowden

Speaking remotely at the crypto conference Consensus 2022, Edward Snowden said that he encourages people to use crypto tokens for their intended purpose rather than as investment assets. He acknowledged that this viewpoint probably puts him in the minority.

"Generally, I don't encourage people to put their money in cryptocurrencies as a technology, and this is what distances me from a lot of people in the community," Snowden said. The event was organised by CoinDesk.

During his talk, Snowden also referred to his whistleblowing activities in 2013, which led him to live in exile in Russia for nearly a decade. He said he used Bitcoin to pay for some of the servers at the time.

"I use bitcoin to use it. In 2013, bitcoin is what I used to pay for the servers pseudonymously," he said, reports CoinDesk.

The NSA (National Security Agency) whistleblower also criticised the letter sent to US lawmakers earlier this month, saying that most of the signatories were "prolific public trolls" and that many of their concerns were addressable.

"The letter is an argument for the status quo," Snowden said. "There are so many ways to address all of their concerns. All the people who have signed this latter could understand this industry. They certainly should."

When questions about the Ukrainian invasion came up during the discussion, Snowden did not try to defend Russia, which continues to provide his asylum.

He said that he wished it had never happened, and hoped that it would end soon. However, he also clarified that he didn't talk about it publicly because he did not want his comments reported without context.