In this episode of Space Monkeys, longtime Web3 contributor Flipchan shares his gripping journey from a teenage hacker on IRC channels, breaking into systems for dopamine kicks, to pioneering privacy tech in crypto.

Starting with Bitcoin in 2013, he built nodes, non-custodial payments, Monero e-commerce platforms, a betting site integrated with chess. com, and even tokenized a Romanian hotel in 2018.

Transitioning to the Polkadot ecosystem, Flipchan worked on Composable Finance, Edgeware upgrades, the UpTest framework, and BagPipes for seamless XCM.

Now, he's leading Kusama Shield, a ZK-powered privacy mixer deploying soon on Kusama, enabling shielded transfers for KSM and ERC20 assets with on-ramps from top L1 coins like Solana and Litecoin.

He discusses standing firm on privacy principles, the risks of compliance sellouts, and Kusama's future with ZK bounties, proof of personhood, and advanced cryptography.

Discover why privacy is essential in a surveillance-heavy world and how Kusama is set for a privacy boom.

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