CHAIN REACTION · Issue 1
What Is a Cypherpunk, Anyway?
Welcome to crypto
So, what is a Cypherpunk? If the 1970s punk scene tore down the stage to build its own, the cypherpunks did the same — only in code.
They’re the ones who looked at a growing internet and said, “Cool, but who’s watching?” Then they built the locks, the tunnels, and the currencies that let people move freely through digital space.
Think of them as the privacy punks of the network age — DIY technologists who believed freedom required encryption, not permission. Their rebellion wasn’t with guitars, but with math.
Like the original punks, they weren’t waiting for the system to change; they just started building a new one in its shadow.
Not exclusive to writing code — the Cypherpunk movement is a mindset about how people think, act, and align with a certain kind of progress.