Home
News
While people were busy looking at their phones, laptops, and other devices, they did not realize the National Security Agency (NSA), an intelligence agency of the U.S. Department of Defence, was watching them. Little did the government agency know that they were under the crosshair of Edward Snowden, a computer intelligence consultant, and a whistleblower.
Edward Snowden Got Russian Citizenship Just Last Year
A decade ago, Edward Snowden leaked a large chunk of NSA documents anonymously to The Guardian, The Intercept, The Washington Post, and more, revealing how the agency was surveilling the general public. He told his identity a few days after the incident. The Guardian wrote, “Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers.”
The leaked documents contained sensitive information, according to the government. Glenn Greenwald, one of the journalists whom Edward Snowden shared the documents with, said during an Associated Press interview in 2013, “To take documents with him that proved that what he was saying was true, he had to take ones that included very sensitive, detailed blueprints of how the NSA does what they do.”
In 2013, once the ‘world’s most wanted man’ was charged with the Espionage Act by the U.S. government. Since then, he has found a haven in Russia. Just last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin granted his country’s citizenship. Snowden also revealed he is writing about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and will publish it eventually.
Perceiving Crypto as a Utility
Edward Snowden sees cryptocurrency as a utility rather than an investment. During a conference last year, he revealed that he used Bitcoin (BTC), the largest crypto asset by market cap, to pay for servers pseudonymously. He had expressed interest in investing in the virtual currency in March 2020, trading between $16K and $17K.
In November 2022, he took to Twitter, writing, “There’s still a lot of trouble ahead, but for the first time in a while, I’m starting to feel the itch to scale back in.” Bitcoin lost almost 25% value within a couple of days in the same month. The crowned cryptocurrency was currently changing hands at $26,344.
There's still a lot of trouble ahead, but for the first time in a while I'm starting to feel the itch to scale back in. pic.twitter.com/saZXYq8MT2
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) November 14, 2022
The majority of crypto assets were trading red in the past 24 hours. The scenario brewed after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged virtual currencies as securities. Moreover, the agency went after significant crypto exchanges, leading several Twitter users to question the move.
The crypto sector is currently going through a tumultuous period. Since the LUNA ecosystem collapse, prices of the lion’s share of cryptocurrencies have suffered. While the cratering of crypto-heavyweight FTX in November 2022 added gasoline to the fuel, the U.S. banking failure came out of the blue. The total market cap consolidated during the period, falling below $800 Billion in the following month.
However, the market capitalization has again retained a $1 Trillion cap, with several crypto assets recovering their values to some extent. Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) collectively hold 66.6% dominance over the market, with a nearly 2% downfall in the last 24 hours.
Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.
