The post Vitalik Says Crypto Should Defend Privacy Rights as US-Iran War Looms appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Vitalik says mass surveillance shifts power to states, making crypto privacy tools more important than ever. Reports of possible US-Iran war are driving market tension and renewed interest in decentralized digital assets. Privacy-focused crypto may gain demand as conflict fears raise concerns over control, data tracking, and censorship. Vitalik Buterin is speaking up about privacy. The Ethereum co-founder recently shared a blog post about Iran’s surveillance state.  He used it to make a broader point about freedom and technology. His comments come as tensions between the US and Iran are heating up fast. The crypto world is now paying close attention. Vitalik’s Core Problem With How We Talk About Surveillance Buterin says freedom advocates are making a mistake. They call surveillance “dystopian” and stop there. To him, that is not enough.  Calling something dystopian sounds like an aesthetic complaint, not a real argument. He wants people to understand the actual harm. This is a good post on the impact of surveillance in Iran:https://t.co/TzSqUE2JOo It’s worth reading. IMO one mistake that freedom advocates often make is that we talk about privacy violation and surveillance as “dystopian”, using the word as a semantic stop sign: we know it… — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 18, 2026 He wrote on X that surveillance shifts the power balance between individuals and the state. Governments with total surveillance can stay in power forever. They only need a small group of loyalists with weapons and technology.  He referenced “The Dictator’s Handbook” to explain this. Small coalition governments, he noted, are the most dangerous kind. Why Crypto and Privacy Tech Matter Right Now Buterin sees privacy technology as part of the solution. He also supports building censorship-resistant internet access.  He called basic internet, around 1 Mbps, a global human right. In his view, it should sit outside nation-state control.…

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Filed under: News - @ February 18, 2026 9:28 pm