Self-custody as foundation for digital identity

Peter Van Valkenburgh is the Executive Director of Coin Center, a leading nonprofit research and advocacy group focused on cryptocurrency policy. In this episode, Peter joins The Bitcoin Frontier to explore why defending the right to self-custody is about much more than bitcoin — it’s about the future of individual freedom, open-source innovation, and financial privacy. We dig into the parallels between the 1990s “crypto wars” and today’s digital sovereignty battles, the threats facing developers of privacy tools, and the constitutional foundations for privacy and property in the digital age.

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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Intro and Peter’s journey from acting to bitcoin policy
2:00 – Discovering the cypherpunks and the roots of internet freedom
4:00 – Entering bitcoin through law school and meeting Jerry Brito
6:00 – Founding Coin Center and defining “permissionless innovation”
9:00 – The mission: protecting the freedom to build and use open blockchains
11:00 – Bitcoin’s privacy problem and the legal risks of building privacy tech
13:00 – Educating DC: explaining bitcoin to Congress in the early days
16:00 – Navigating the SEC, ICOs, and defining what counts as a security
18:30 – The evolution from education to constitutional litigation
22:00 – Bitcoin as the revival of a “bearer instrument” economy
26:00 – The “secret right to cash” and the Fourth Amendment’s blind spot
30:00 – Privacy, property, and what bitcoin reveals about constitutional limits
35:00 – The Keep Your Coins Act and why it matters for financial sovereignty
43:00 – The DOJ’s shift toward prosecuting developers — and why it’s dangerous
46:00 – Inside the Tornado Cash and Samurai Wallet prosecutions
50:00 – How Coin Center is fighting for software publishing rights
54:00 – Legislative progress: Clarity, Keep Your Coins, and BRCA
1:00:00 – Lessons from the 1990s encryption wars
1:03:00 – How liability protections shaped (and centralized) the internet
1:08:00 – The convenience dilemma: why self-custody must become easier
1:12:00 – The Bank Secrecy Act, mass surveillance, and new legal challenges
1:19:00 – Coin Center’s constitutional lawsuits for privacy and association rights
1:23:00 – Why the BSA is ripe for reform — and bitcoin’s role in that debate
1:27:00 – Zero-knowledge proofs, AML, and a future of privacy-preserving compliance
1:29:00 – How self-custody wallets enable digital identity and personal sovereignty
1:31:00 – Closing thoughts: bitcoin as the foundation for a freer digital future

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