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Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin just dropped a hefty donation, around $765,000 in ETH, on two privacy-focused messaging apps you might not know yet: Session and SimpleX. Could these be the Signal and Telegram killers the crypto world’s been waiting for?
Fueled by rising global surveillance anxieties, Vitalik Buterin is championing crypto privacy like never before, becoming a key voice for those determined to safeguard their digital lives.
Your digital life is an open book – unless you encrypt. Signal’s a fortress, but true privacy needs escape routes. What if anyone could join the party, and conversations vanished without a trace? Session and SimpleX are building that world, one message at a time. Permissionless access, disappearing metadata: the future of secret chats is here.
vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 26, 2025
Vitalik Buterin champions encrypted messaging as the cornerstone of digital privacy, singling out Signal for its pivotal role. But he’s not stopping there. Buterin highlights the future: permissionless account creation and fortified metadata privacy. Session and SimpleX are the messaging vanguard, boldly leading the charge toward this secure horizon.
Forget big tech’s prying eyes. Session, a fiercely private messenger, boasts “end-to-end encryption” and wages war on metadata leakage – that sneaky trail of breadcrumbs like your IP address and send time. Fueling the fire? Its token, SESH, exploded today, rocketing 371% to a $15 million market cap. Privacy is trending, and Session is cashing in.
SimpleX isn’t just another secure messenger; it’s giving users the keys to their entire social kingdom. Imagine owning your identity, contacts, and even the communities you’re part of – that’s the SimpleX vision. Next year, they’re flipping the script with “vouchers.” Think of them as tiny investments that empower users to fuel the very communities they love, like the Bitcoin ecosystem, ensuring the servers that power those communities stay humming.
Buterin minced no words: neither software is flawless. He stressed both face a long, uphill climb toward peak user experience and ironclad security.
“Metadata privacy: a fortress built on quicksand. Decentralization, its cornerstone, is a monumental task. Toss in the multi-device demands of modern users? The foundation cracks. And if we hope to weather Sybil attacks and DoS floods, both at the routing level and user-side, without resorting to phone number tyranny? The challenge transforms from arduous to seemingly impossible.”
Crypto and privacy
As governments tighten their grip on the digital world, a rebellion is brewing: privacy-centric apps and crypto projects are experiencing a surge in popularity, fueled by a growing desire for digital autonomy.
“Imagine living in a world where every click, every search, every online interaction is meticulously tracked and sold. That’s the reality we face in today’s digital landscape,” warns Zac Williamson, co-founder of Aztec Network. He sees privacy not as a luxury, but as a fundamental requirement for digital freedom. “Without it, we become digital commodities, our data harvested, auctioned off, and ultimately, used against us. We need privacy to be free agents in the online world, not just data points in someone else’s profit equation.”
This year, the UK threw down the gauntlet, demanding online age verification for adult content access and flirting with a nationwide digital ID. Not to be outdone, the EU Council greenlit “Chat Control” on Wednesday, a move that allows messaging apps to scan content under the guise of child protection, a decision already sparking outrage among privacy advocates.
Echoing the recent security scares rattling U.S. banks, Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin doubled down on privacy, calling it “hygiene.” But it’s not just talk. This October, the Ethereum Foundation quietly assembled a 28-member privacy dream team, signaling a major push to scrub the blockchain clean and bolster user anonymity. Get ready for a wave of privacy-focused projects.
Privacy coins are on fire. Zcash blazed a trail, skyrocketing an astounding 793% to $501 in a year, says CoinGecko. Even a recent cool-down, a 27% dip in the last week, barely dims its red-hot performance.
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