The CypherPunks Ten Prophets - John Gilmore

John Gilmore and His Impact on Cryptocurrencies

 The seeds of the 2017 crypto-boom were planted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Several pioneers in computer science, cryptography, and political studies did their part to pave the way for the recent explosion of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies into the mainstream. Without these champions, the movement would still be hidden in the shadows. One such crypto-hero is John Gilmore, a computer scientist, and entrepreneur whose impact on blockchain technology is ever increasing.

 Gilmore’s Career and Early Retirement

 Gilmore was born in York, PA, where he lived until moving to Alabama during his teen years. He was first introduced to computer science his senior year of high school in a class on data processing. His hometown, Anniston, AL, hired him as a programmer after his graduation. In his late teens and early twenties, Gilmore worked on mainframe email software that was used by the Carter presidential campaign.

 His knack for computer science and programming was quite evident to all, and he eventually moved to San Francisco in 1978. A few years later, Gilmore interviewed with Bill Gates for a position at Microsoft but turned it down to accept an offer at Sun Microsystems, becoming their fifth employee.

 Gilmore left Sun Microsystems in 1985 with $10,000 and a significant amount of company stock, such that when the company went public in 1986, he became an instant millionaire. His early departure opened up the opportunity to pursue ideas and causes he was genuinely passionate about.

 Gilmore’s Role in the Early Crypto Movement

In 1989, Gilmore and two others founded the company Cygnus Support (later Cygnus Solutions) with the goal of providing commercial support for free software. The company tagline had a bit of irony to it, “Making free software affordable.” The company’s goals and objectives were in line with Gilmore’s strong libertarian beliefs. He wanted software and computer technology to be available to the masses, not in the control of large corporations and central governments who already maintained all the power.

 Gilmore’s love for computer science and commitment to individual liberty led him to Timothy May and Eric Hughes, and in late 1992, the three invited almost two dozen of their fellow cryptographers and programmers to Hughes’ house. Thus the Cypherpunk movement was born.

 The thrust of the movement, as outlined by the publication “The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto,” was to use “cryptologic methods [to] fundamentally alter the nature of corporations and government interference in economic transactions.” They firmly believed that “combined with emerging information markets, crypto anarchy will create a liquid market for any and all material which can be put into words and pictures.” While many saw the advent of the internet as a way to expand society, the Cypherpunks wisely saw it as another means by which central authorities could control the masses.

 Gilmore himself was devoted to privacy in communications and data protection. In his own words, “I want a guarantee—with physics and mathematics, not with laws—that we can give ourselves things like the real privacy of personal communications. Encryption strong enough that even the NSA cannot break it.” For the Cypherpunks, the way to keep government out of people’s lives was through cryptography-based money and communications.

 The group spread their ideas by holding regular meetings at Cygnus’ HQ and started a mailing list to keep the group updated with happenings and new ideas. The list grew to about 2000 members by 1997 and averaged around thirty messages a day from December 1996 through March 1999.

 The movement continued to grow throughout the nineties, and at the turn of the millennium, cypherpunks began experimenting with digital money. In 1998, Wei Dei published notes on the Cypherpunk mailing list about “B-money,” a distributed electronic cash system. His thoughts and ideas were directly influenced by the posts of May, Hughes, and Gilmore, the original three Cypherpunks. Just ten years later, the famous Bitcoin white paper was published.

Gilmore’s Impact on Cryptocurrencies

 In a practical sense, the Cypherpunks would not have started without Gilmore’s involvement. To be sure, May and Hughes could have pressed on without him, but his role was essential in growing the grassroots movement. Not only did Gilmore’s company house dozens of Cypherpunk meetings, but his work in personal communications and encryption was also the foundation for the mailing list.

 Additionally, like the other Cypherpunks, Gilmore emphasized the priority of individual liberty and privacy above all else. For him, cryptography was not an end in itself--the goal was and still is, to liberate the masses from the control of central authorities. These same beliefs underpin the philosophy of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

 The linchpin, as the manifesto puts it, of “alter[ing] the nature of corporations and government interference in economic transactions” aligns with the present day cryptocurrency movement. Gilmore’s focus on secure, private communications matches up perfectly with the objectives of blockchain technology.

Gilmore has said in the past, “[The] NSA [is] able to secretly eavesdrop on anyone who used DES, which includes the entire financial community, and most computer and network security systems” (emphasis added). His commitment to providing financial freedom from government control is realized with the generation of cryptocurrencies. However, without his contributions to the cypherpunk movement and cryptography, who knows how things would be now.