OPSEC in Practice Bitcoin vs The Surveillance State | Bitcoin 2026

All right. Hello everybody. Um, thanks for stopping by. Uh, we have uh 30 minutes. Oh, look, they've got a time of what? We've got 26 minutes. We're already behind. Um, and we've got three people here who uh think differently about privacy and tackle it from their own their own angle. So, I'm going to keep this intro pretty short. Um, here's where we are today. Um the samurai case, the tornado cash case have made one thing very clear in recent times and that is that building privacy tools in and around Bitcoin is now something that governments are actively looking to prosecute. Uh in most of the world financial privacy is no longer something that you have to that you can expect to be given. It's something that you have to actually actively defend. So the premise for this panel is pretty simple. um in 2026, what is the the state of play? What actually works? Uh what should you be doing? What should you maybe not be doing? Uh and where are we losing ground? Rather than read these guys' bios, I'm going to let each of you uh introduce yourselves briefly. Let us know quickly who you are and why this fight matters to you. Uh Naomi, we'll start with you. >> Right. Uh my name is Naomi Brockwell. I'm president of the Lelo Institute. We're a 501c3 that focuses on advancing freedom through technology. And we mainly focus on decentralized tech and privacy tech and trying to proliferate tools that can give people back their freedom. And I'm in this fight because I see the surveillance state ballooning and I think that we have a limited window of time to actually get tools into people's hands before there's a giant panopticon that's going to descend and we will lose all of our freedom. Like privacy is the foundation of a free society and if we lose it, we're screwed. So that's why I'm in this battle. >> Seth. Yeah, I'm uh Seth for privacy. I'm chief operating officer at Cakewallet. Uh we're trying to make Bitcoin privacy specifically along with uh privacy coins. Trying to make privacy really achievable, really simple, really straightforward because as you mentioned, if your financial privacy falls apart, all of your other human rights very rapidly deteriorate after that. So trying to solve the financial privacy side, make it something that's not just for nerds by nerds, but something that that you, an average person, can actually leverage. >> Open state. I'm open state. I'm an anonymous nim. I used to be a banker and then I got disillusioned after the financial crash. I saw the corruption from within and I really hated what I was seeing. So I wanted to make a difference in the world and I applied for a government to do policy and legislation. I figured that that's where I could actually make a difference. So I joined the government and the first thing I was asked to do when I joined was to write AML legislation. Right? So my heart just slumped. But I still did it for seven years because I wanted somebody like me to do the AML and the regula regulation from my country instead of somebody else. So I did it for seven years, but after a while I couldn't take it anymore. I had to speak up. I see the I saw the subversion of state sovereignty for global standard setting bodies and I'm like screw this. I'm going to put a mask. I'm going to do a couple podcasts and that's why I'm here today just to raise awareness of what's happening within governments. >> All right. Awesome. Thanks everybody. Um, so I want to start with the state of play. Um, because things m are moving pretty quickly. They're changing rapidly and that means that a lot of the advice that you hear in and around podcasts and conferences can get pretty stale pretty quickly. So I want to take a quick snapshot of where we're at. So open state, you mentioned that you have worked inside government on policy. um what's the the single biggest thing that's kind of coming down the pipe um in the next 12 months that people in this room should be aware of when it comes to their privacy? >> Just one or can I go for two? >> Well, let's see how long you take with the first one. >> Well, the bad news is that regulators are usually about 2 to three years behind. And two to three years ago, we saw the emergence of decentralized finance and non-custodial solutions, right? Non-custodial wallets. And the bad news is that regulators now are wise to this. So when I was in government just a few months ago, I left about six months ago, I saw all of the initiatives that were focused on hardware wallets, unhosted wallets, DeFi protocols, smart contracts, right? Non-custodial solutions. And that is the target for anti-moneyaundering regulation this year. So I wouldn't be surprised to see some pretty heavy, you know, banhammer coming down and squashing privacy there. But the biggest issue, so it's not just bad news, there's also terrible news. The terrible news comes on the tax side. There's a new initiative called the crypto asset reporting framework and it's set up by the OAC and it's a global standard setting body, right? So you don't have any say on what it does. What it does is it requires crypto companies to record your personal data, the data on all of your transactions, and to send it to the state and it'll be shared with other countries for tax purposes. It's completely going to squash privacy and they want to implement this for DeFi, decentralized finance and non-custodial solutions. There's actually a way back machine FAQ that you can look at to see exactly what they want to do. So, it's coming. It's horrible and we need to push back or at least be made aware that it's coming. >> All right. Thanks. Uh Naomi, Seth, what about you guys? like what's changed for you in the last like 12 to 18 months that's kind of uh altered how you approach your own um uh toward your own privacy name. >> Yeah. So I I have some um uh counterpoints there. Well not really counterpoints but yes and maybe um you talk about how they're going after DeFi want they want to apply these things to DeFi. They want to the whole value proposition of DeFi is there is no choke point to go after. So when things are truly decentralized, that is the solution here. We're not asking for permission and we never expected governments would agree with this stuff forever. We knew this was coming, which is why we've been building out all kinds of decentralized infrastructure so that they can't dictate what we do with our finances. We just don't recognize their moral authority and being able to make those choices for us. So that's why DeFi is important. So like I I see the coming battle too and I think we should be prepared for it, but I also don't think that we should be overwhelmed and think we can't win. We can absolutely win and it's about building that underground railroad of tools that allow our freedom even when authoritarian regimes come down and tell us we can no longer do with our money what we want to do. So we just have to remember the power that is in this tech and kind of lean into that. Um I've done some work on the legislative side too. So, I um I helped write a bill that was released in the House on on Thursday, uh federal privacy legislation that basically says if the government wants to do a search, they need a warrant, which is pretty simple, and we thought I thought we had a Fourth Amendment that already said that, but apparently we need a bill to define what a search is. Because for a long time, governments have been carving out all kinds of areas where they say, "Oh, well, this isn't a search. We're we're just querying Google's database. That's not a search. We don't need a warrant. Oh, we're just querying our own database that we filled with all the data we bought from data brokers. That's not a search. So, the bill basically just defined search. No, this is a meaningful investigation of personal thing and you need a warrant if you want to do that. You need judicial oversight. So um I on that front I hope that people will reach out to their representatives and say you know please sign on be a co-sponsor of the surveillance accountability act because as far as I can see this third party doctrine carve out that the governments are currently operating under is absolutely atrocious for privacy the carveouts get larger and larger every year and we are just ballooning towards that panopticon and so we just got to rein that in real quick. >> Yeah I think just to to double down on that. Yeah, that's a that's a vital a vital fix and improvement. I'm excited. I I think doubling down on that, the the optimism is that like you said, we can build tools that it doesn't matter if they make regulation. Like that's the whole reason why self-custody matters. That's the whole reason why tools actually being open source matters is that if Cakewallet goes away tomorrow, okay, it's open source. You can go build it yourself if you have to. If all the app stores remove it, you can still sideloadad it. We have no server infrastructure that you rely on. You can run your own node if every other node goes down. The the entity can be attacked. Yes, that's possible. But building tech in a way that is actually truly freedom tech where it's decentralized whenever possible, where it's open source, where it empowers the individual is the way that we push back. I think the very important thing to keep in mind when there is this sort of regulation coming is that we often have these kind of these these windows to build that come in bursts and fits where we have a more open environment where we can build in the open. We can accelerate more rapidly what we're able to build. We can do it in a a different way where we don't necessarily have to be anonymous. But that won't always be true and hasn't always been true and we've gone through fits and starts within the Bitcoin space. But building open source, always doing self-custodial, doing decentralization whenever possible, whenever necessary is the way we fight back so that even when they crack down, which will happen probably in most countries, it's just a matter of time, the tools are there that you can use them no matter what they actually try to do to stop you. One more quick thing on that. Tornado cache is a fantastic example cuz despite sanctions, despite indictments, and people going to jail who ran it, guess what was still being used the entire time? Tornado cash. They never actually stopped people from being able to use it regardless of the the US government leveraging all of their power to try and prevent that. That was a great example of how we can build tools that will resist oppression. I just want to add and thank you for the optimism because I don't have any from my end. Um but you know developers really have to be careful here. I got a call just a few months ago from our regulator in my country and that regulator that person she was the head of the department. She was asking me specifically, you know, how do contributors in the GitHub, you know, control a smart contract, right? And smart contracts for Ethereum, not Bitcoin, but the principle hold they're really driing drilling down into the details now. They're getting into the nitty-gritty. So, if you're developing an app and it's a freedom app, make sure you do it anonymously, right? Do a NIM, right? Do your contributions through that NIM. Start protecting yourself and that's how we're going to actually plow forward. Yeah. Awesome. So, we've covered off that the policy is changing very quickly. They're being very aggressive towards any sort of privacy tech, but as you correctly say, the the tech already exists. It might not be perfect, but like taking a snapshot again of 2026. Um, and I'll start with you here, Seth. Um, what are the most viable privacy tools that are available to end users right now that they can use to take back their privacy when interacting with Bitcoin? What would be the Let's pick one each. So, Seth, you kick us off. Yeah, I think the the one that I'll go with and one that I've I've been been pressuring other developers and other other people building Bitcoin wallets to implement is Payjoin. It's a a simple technology, but one that that drastically improves privacy when you're actually spending Bitcoin. All it is is that when you go to spend Bitcoin and the wallet you're paying supports Payjoin, you and the person you're paying actually work together to create the transaction, you both contribute inputs, which sounds scary, but they get the right amount at the end of the day. you get everything back has changed just like normal. What it does though is it actually hides the sender, the receiver and the amount in the transaction. Uh and we can do it in a way that it can just be the default. If you use Cakewallet, you have a Bitcoin wallet. If you have any Bitcoin in there, you can use Payjoin today. If any other Cakewallet user pays you, you don't have to do anything extra. You don't have to say, "I want to use this, go through these 12 steps to activate it." You can just use it. Uh the the the SDK to use it for developers is ready and useful. And all we really need is for people to want it and for developers to implement it. And if you're using a wallet that does not support Payjoin V2 for Bitcoin right now, go yell at your uh your local developer. Tell them it's time. I want this. I want to be able to have better privacy on Bitcoin. And it's one of the few tools that you you don't have to think about. You don't have to make a conscious choice or effort or take extra steps to do and it should become the default in Bitcoin wallets. And just quickly on that, not wanting to steer people away from cake wallets. It's wonderful obviously, but where else can can people access that tool right now. >> Unfortunately, only Cake Wallet and then Bull Bitcoin, uh, which is another self-custodial wallet by fantastic people who also have >> Unfortunately, that's great. Like, good on you guys actually implementing privacy tools. Like, thank you. >> It's true. I just wish there were more than two. Like, is it is it a a nice selling point uh for Cake Wallet that we're one of the only ones that actually supports PayJoin? Yes. But it's much more effective if you can use any Bitcoin wallet and I can be using Cake Wallet and we can both benefit from the privacy that's provided. So the the goal is definitely everyone uses it. But for now, Cake Wallet. >> Uh Naomi, what about you? >> I um am loathed to point to specific tech. I would say be careful of thinking that any one piece of privacy tech is going to be a panacea. Um, I think that a lot of people don't realize that in order to make use of any of these privacy tools, including like privacy coins or or anything, you need to know how to use the internet privately. Um, you you really need to start integrating this kind of privacy hygiene into your daily internet usage. And it's kind of like a whole spectrum there. So, I um I encourage people to actually start with things outside of the crypto realm. You know, if you're still on Gmail, you need to just get off that. Not only are you using something that is analyzed and flagged and all your data is sent to governments around the world, um, and it's also sent to like thousands of entities profiling you, but that's also a liability. If you want to use these privacy tools, but then you've, you know, linked things back to an email provider that could be subpoenaed without a warrant at any given time, you know, and you didn't use that email provider privately, all of your crypto interactions are out there fair gain. You've just left all these breadcrumbs uh for governments and other entities to piece together your activity. So, I would say start with your general privacy hygiene. Um, get off Gmail is my number one point for all of you. Like, stop fueling the competition. If you're not supporting the email providers that are trying to protect our privacy, you are actively contributing to their competitors, you know, pricing them out of the market. So, like choose the future you want to see in the world and make the choices that respond to your values. Um, I'm going to piggyback on that vein as well because privacy is a state of mind and you know I'm sitting and at these conferences and I'm looking at people in the row in front of me and I can read all their emails, right? But I want to show hands here. How many people here have a privacy screen on their phone? Show hands. Privacy screen on your phone. Six, seven people at the most. Right? The person behind you can actually read what you're doing, right? all the emails, all the text, right? It's your phone. But privacy is a state of mind and it starts at the analog level, right? You put your blinds when you go to your house, it's night, night time, you put you close your blinds, you don't want people watching into your house. It's the same thing for your phone. Get a privacy screen. Five or six bucks. It's easy. And privacy is a mindset. If we make things a little bit more difficult for the for the surveillance state, we're going to win. >> And it's not about hiding either. Like it's because we all have important things to protect and information is power. So just make a choice about like how much power are you willingly just giving to other people that will use that against you. And you don't need to spend $6 on something that can help you just reclaim that power. It's all just about ownership of our data and just being able to live the life of our choosing. It's not about hiding or anything. >> Yeah. Uh one one thing that's been a bug bear of mine for years in around Bitcoin privacy and and unfortunately it's still only trending in the wrong direction is uh the creeping effect of KYC and the proliferation of it's just the normal way that most people unfortunately on board to Bitcoin and I understand why because you know they it's well publicized it's well sort of um it's the easiest route to get started with with buying Bitcoin. They make it super easy for you. But unfortunately, the the flip side to that is that you have to give away all of your personal information. You're probably going to have to give a selfie or even a video of you, your passport information, where you live. And all of that information is being tied to every single purchase of Bitcoin that you make. And um it's a difficult one to sway people away from because the alternatives, as as bullish as I am on them personally, they are never as easy as they are as hitting smash buy in strike, unfortunately. So guys, I I I want to open question to anybody who wants to take it, but is uh using no KYC options to obtain your Bitcoin still viable in 2026? >> Yeah, I I think it definitely is and it's it's actually gotten much better over the years. Um like even something like Robboats, for example, which is a lightning first peer-to-peer, no KYC exchange. You buy Bitcoin from other Bitcoiners, uh and you get it with good privacy and you don't give up your ID. It seems it all seems very daunting at first because it's abnormal. But think about the first time you got into Bitcoin and you signed up for Coinboy Coinbase and you bought Bitcoin and you withdrew it. Did that feel normal or easy? Probably not. Like I I think it's gotten easier over the years, but anything that you're new to always feels daunting and difficult until you actually do it. And now it's very second nature. I may or may not have made robos purchases while driving. Uh it's possible. It it just is something that you need to get comfortable with and you need to actually do to understand how simple it is. But it's also just like Naomi said with email, as long as we continue to to fund and feed the the KYC surveillance state and we use these exchanges, we we necessarily remove funding from those people who are trying to build no KYC alternatives. When you use something like Robboats, when you use something like BISK, when you use something like Hodddle Hodddle, you're actually helping to fund a better future because there are good monetization models in there for the people actually building the technology that supports it. Those tools get better. It gets easier to use and you get this rapid snowball effect where it becomes something where I really think one day it'll be easier to buy peer-to-peer, no KYC than it will be to buy on exchange because the whole KYC system is actually a nightmare to use. It's a huge user experience hurdle and we can avoid that entirely uh using NokyC. So yeah, I think it's it's gotten better. It's usable today. You really just got to try it. Like don't be scared. Try it. You'll survive. Once you try it, you'll realize how easy it really is. >> So there's a few online options to buy Bitcoin KYC. But I'm actually a big proponent of the analog method as well. There's a Bitcoin meetup in every single city in the United States. There are Bitcoiners all over the world. It doesn't matter where you're at. I'm in a very small country. There's a Bitcoin meet up there. You can actually go there and you can buy Bitcoin. You can bring some cash. Somebody will buy it from an exchange and then transfer it to you. That's just an easy way of getting Bitcoin face to face. You get to know people that you can trust. You get to know them. you get to connect and you're actually building that network that will actually strengthen you because we all forget that what happens on our phone. It's it's increasingly important in our lives, but it's still just a digital piece of tech. Our real lives are lived personto person. You and I, we get to talk to each other on the analog front. That's the power of Bitcoin is it allows you to actually buy Bitcoin from somebody in front of you. That's amazing. >> Yeah. And I would say just as an anecdote, um you can see how easy it is and how like um how common it is to be able to buy on KYC coins. Like every time China bans like Bitcoin again, you see the hash rate just skyrocket in in China. Um you know, they there's such capital flight from that country and um you can see all of these people just take to mining. Mining is a great way to get fresh coins. And not only that, if you go to pools, you can buy fresh coins from other people. Um, so take a look at different pools out there where you can purchase coins. Um, that that's another way that you can get involved. >> Welcome to predict. The world is a market. Everything is a market. Every headline moves the line. Every moment is your market. Call the moves. Bet on your instinct, your prediction, your edge. Dual Bits predict where everything is a market. >> Yeah. Um All right. I want to move us on to something that you alluded to earlier, Ney around um just treating your privacy or your your your whole privacy life as more of a holistic approach. Like there is no one tool that um you know is is the silver bullet that's going to make you instantly private. So, I'm keen to know what do you guys do generally in your privacy, not necessarily strictly with your Bitcoin that maybe the average Bitcoiner who's entered in the last couple of years probably doesn't do like what practices are you doing that may seem like uh the run-of-the-mill operation for you guys as privacy advocates that you can impart onto the audience to think, you know, here's a step forward for you guys and open state. Let's start with you. Well, I think privacy is a state of mind and that starts in our everyday lives, right? Like putting closing the blinds at night time at your house. That's one thing. Another thing is pushing back whenever you can, knowing your rights. When you go to the airport and they have those phase scanning devices, opt out. You're able to opt out, right? They might push back, but you if you stand your ground, you'll board that plane, right? You know those machines where you put your arms up? I've never been in one. I've opted out every single time. and I've been flying multiple times a year for the last 12, 13 years, however long they've had them. So, have principles. Care about your privacy. Make the extra effort. No, it's not easy. Yes, they're going to argue. Yes, they're going to complain. They'll try and convince you, but stand your ground because privacy is a state of mind. Once you get that state of mind, everything just falls in place. The way you use the internet, the way you buy your Bitcoin, everything just starts making sense and it's worth the effort. Yeah, I think maybe one I'll I'll highlight Yeah. is there are a few privacy tools that actually make yourself make your life easier at the same time, but there are some. One of those is email aliases. It's another thing that sounds weird and strange when you first try it. Uh, but it's actually something if you use an iPhone and you have iCloud Plus, you can use email aliases today. You'll get that little hide my email pop up above your keyboard. It'll create an email alias that sends the email to your your end inbox, whatever that is. And guess what? When that email address gets leaked in the inevitable hack of practically every entity out there, you can just disable that email alias. You won't get spam. You won't get fishing to it. It doesn't matter that it was leaked. It's not your core email address anyways. And it actually ends up making your life really easy. It's something that also if you use Proton Mail or any of the Proton Suite, Proton Pass, you can do email aliasing just when you go to create a new login, it'll create the alias for you. You don't need to think about it. It automatically figures out what it should name it. It does all the hard work for you and it actually improves your life because when when your email is hacked, cuz it always will be. We've all been in dozens of breaches at this point where you start getting all the spam and you have no idea how to stop it and you don't want to change your email address. It's just a toggle. You disable the email alias and you go on with life. That's one of those things that's it's maybe a little bit more of a minor one, but it's one that actually improves your life and helps your privacy at the same time. >> Yeah, I think that uh if people knew all the things I did, like it's pretty wild and I would say don't start there. I have I have some pretty um inconvenient things that I do and I I I have some very strange um privacy things. But um I would say for the average person, start with the lowest hanging fruit. So what browser are you using? Okay, get off Chrome and go to Brave. what search engine you're using. Get off Google. There's a pattern here. You know, if you're on on on Gmail, get off Gmail. There's Tutor, there's Proton, there's a bunch of things. If you're sending SMS or Instagram DMs, get off it. Send something like Signal or, you know, Simple X is is an interesting tool as well. So, I would start like the lowest hanging fruit and go for those first. Um, some of the things that I do, it could get crazy like, you know, I have my my graphine phone, so I'm not using iOS or um Android. Um, I I have multiple profiles. A lot of people don't realize that their apps can see each other inside a single profile. So, your banking app knows that you have that crypto app installed. They can see it. Apps can also talk to each other if they mutually agree to do so uh within a profile. So, I silo apps across profiles if there are any that I don't want communicating. So, like you I kind of thinking about all these um risk profile from simply like my banking app know that I have a crypto app. What does that do to my credit score? what does that do to my risk of being debanked? These are kinds of things that that you start to implement. Um, but it's kind of like down the line, you know, again, first thing like get off Gmail, get off Google Chrome, stop using Google search, like basic easy things. And as Seth said, like this stuff can make your life easier. A lot of people don't realize you switch to Brave, you're going to stop seeing YouTube ads. This is so cool. You don't have to pay for YouTube Premium, but they'll block the ads for you. So today it make your life better. It'll make the bandwidth go quicker. Uh you're not seeing all these ads pop up. Switch to something like Brave and you block all those ads. Immediate life improvement right there. >> Yeah, definitely. And I think we we've got just just a couple of minutes left. Um there's obviously a wealth of information you guys are just talking about all those different services and things like that. Where can you point people to to go and learn about all of the the different alternatives? Are there any specific websites? Maybe any YouTube channels that they can go and watch? um you know where would you sign those people to get started and and start to learn more about improving their privacy? >> Uh so I have a nonprofit it's called Lello Institute. So lloin institute.org we have over 700 free videos. Uh so if there's a topic you want to learn about like aliases, VOIPE numbers, whatever you can search for it and that content's all free. Um we have a newsletter that goes out weekly giving people tips also letting them know like the latest legislation coming down the pipeline you should be aware of. So you can sign up for that as well. But go to surveillanceaccountability.com and find out about this bill uh to reestablish fourth amendment protections in the digital age and uh please come and and support this initiative. >> Yeah. Uh for me, one of the best blog posts I've ever written was one that I didn't think would be that useful, which is where I just said if I were to do my privacy journey over again, this is the the order I would do it in, what I would tackle first, and the tools that I would actually use from the ground up. I just wrote it on like a 30 minute whim and threw it out there and it's by far been the one that that people find the most useful because a lot of times when you first get started in privacy it does feel just terrifying of like where do I actually start? Why should I do this? What tools should I use for each of these things? So I just try to keep it super simple 10 things. It gives you options. The primary one is the main one that I use but other options as well. Uh and that's on sethforprivacy.com. It's just my personal blog and and that that post is the the top 10 post there. So that's a good place to get started. There's a ton of other content out there. Naomi obviously has been making it for years. There's tons of good podcasts, videos. If you want to learn, you can learn about anything out there and there's really good people making content today on privacy. I've got nothing to add to that. Great resources. Please go visit them. The only thing I'm going to add here just real quick is if you're not in control of your life, if you're not taking charge, someone else is. And at the end of the day, nobody else is better to care for you than you, right? So, if you vote every four years and you think things are going to get better, you're actually giving away some of your sovereignty. You know, get rid of Spotify, listen to your old CDs, buy some vinyls, I don't know, read some paper books, start going analog and taking control of your own life. Yeah. And I just want to quickly round us out by saying, yeah, great um recommendations there. Just quickly, while I have the mic, I just want to signpost people to head to bill and kone.org, the two Samurai Wallet developers that have been wrongfully imprisoned for writing privacy software. Um, please head to bill andorg and just help raise awareness. We're trying to campaign to get those guys a presidential pardon because they're currently locked up behind bars. So, please head there and uh, thank you to everybody that's been on the panel. >> Well, please head to bill andorg and give them money. They're $2 million in debt. They could not even afford to go to the appeal process because it would have cost another $4 million and they could not raise the funds. Please go support them and help their initiative because this is a precedent setting case that is going to affect all of us well beyond the financial sphere. This is going to destroy privacy. So please support them. >> Yeah. Well said. Thank you everyone. >> Every year this community comes together to celebrate, to debate, to build what comes next. And every year the stage gets bigger. Sound money center stage. So where do you go to celebrate the next chapter in Bitcoin history? You come home. Nashville. July 2027.