In this particular case I doubt it provided much negative press for the scheme (AFAIK, it remained very niche) and the runners probably tried to memoryhole it as soon as possible. The only real gain was probably the run-up to the event where Snowden's name could be attached to it.
I guess the question is how someone might be delusional enough to believe that.
And a high risk / very high reward ratio.
If he pulls this off, he will get a lot of money.
If not, he will lay low for a while and come back with a new scheme.
Basically, no real negative for the guy, as he would have made a ton of money in his previous scam.
Desperation may be the alternative explanation.
Wow, so elegant.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/sunil-tulsiani-speak...
is freely available. Tulsiani's reputation must be known to everyone involved in this organization, which certainly smells like a scam. What did Snowden hope to accomplish by first playing along, and then bringing this old case up again?
"Are you Edward Snowden or in a societal position comparable to that of Edward Snowden? No? Then society probably isn't quite dysfunctional enough for you yet to justify going to these algorithmic extremes."
I’d love to have electronically anonymous cash on my person that I could spend at will at any establishment, and transport across state boundaries
Unfortunately you need verifiable artificial scarcity which creates a bubble
And to protect said electronic cash which has a barrier to entry
That's inaccurate.
Most fiat currencies today are characterized with the same elements as those of ponzi schemes, its slower over time, but nevertheless it is the same elements with the central bank printing money from nothing.
Crypto can be suborned into any existing ponzi scheme easily by allowing exchanges of these fiat assets and leverage from any of those fiat systems.
Those crypto systems which have ballooned as a result of that would then accurately and appropriately be considered ponzi schemes, even though its just a small leg of the entire ponzi scheme.
There is no effective way for an individual to tell inflows and outflows from the system, and any financial banker is aware of frauds that can create the illusion of price action through the use of leverage, and collusive wash-sale contracts (similar to options). That is how gold and metals commodities are largely suppressed.
Without visibility, those frauds don't come to light, but visibility is a tradeoff when it comes to privacy, especially in 0 trust environments.
Edit: If you are going to downvote, at least do the courtesy of explaining why. If you do not, it simply looks like some brainless person using a bot is trying to censor people, and any intelligent reader will see that for what it actually is. Put another way, use your words, or look like a shill.
