The Crypto Beat Is crypto still cypherpunk? With Miden co-founder Azeem Khan
In episode 59 of The Crypto Beat, Miden Co-Founder Azeem Khan discusses how most crypto users don't realize how exposed their on-chain activity really is, drawing parallels to the 1990s encryption wars. He makes the case for "compliant privacy" as the path to institutional adoption, explains why the cypherpunk ethos needs a pragmatic update, and shares what he's learned from pitching privacy tech to JP Morgan, the SEC, and central banks from Abu Dhabi to Uzbekistan.
OUTLINE
00:00 - Introduction 02:30 - The Illusion of Anonymity 06:25 - The Privacy Rorschach Test 09:01 - Scaling Privacy UX 11:01 - The Regulatory Bottleneck 15:45 - Cypherpunk Ethos in 2026 18:44 - Institutional Adoption Playbook 24:04 - Where Privacy Captures Value 27:49 - The Privacy Token Pump 32:41 - Three Lessons on Privacy
Guest links:
Azeem Khan - https://x.com/azeemk
Miden - https://x.com/0xMiden
Tim Copeland - https://x.com/timccopeland
Kelvin Sparks - https://x.com/imyoungsparks
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