crypto-anarchist

noun

A proponent of crypto-anarchism.

Meanings

nouncrypto-anarchist (plural crypto-anarchists)

plural crypto-anarchists

  1. A proponent of crypto-anarchism.

    About a year ago I bought 30 Bitcoins, the online peer-to-peer crypto-currency, for about £3 each using a European website called Bitstamp.net. Bitcoins appealed to my inner crypto-anarchist and I felt they had great potential.

    2013 July 1, Kate Craig-Wood, “Bitcoin: how I made a virtual fortune”, in The Guardian
    4 more examples

    The crypto anarchist position is that cyberspace is on a non-stop drift towards crypto anarchy. Powerful encryption algorithms, including the Data Encryption Standard (DES), triple-DES, RSA and IDEA, are readily available at no charge […]

    2003, Brian D. Loader, editor, The Governance of Cyberspace, Routledge, →ISBN, page 176

    Crypto-anarchists build software – think of it as political computer code – that can protect us online. Julian Assange is a crypto-anarchist (before WikiLeaks he was an active member of the movement’s most important mailing list), and so perhaps is Edward Snowden.

    2017 June 4, Jamie Bartlett, “Forget far-right populism – crypto-anarchists are the new masters”, in The Observer

    There's a strong crypto anarchist thread running through the cryptocurrency community. What's a crypto anarchist, you ask? The term was likely first coined (if you excuse the pun!) by Tim May, in his 1988 Crypto Anarchist Manifesto.

    2019, Tyler Bain, Peter Kent, Cryptocurrency Mining For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 255

    One of the film’s producers is Cody Wilson, a self-defined “crypto-anarchist”. His various run-ins with the law include pleading guilty to endangering a child after being brought up on charges of paying a minor for sex and a legal battle with the feds after he released blueprints online for creating a firearm by 3D printer.

    2020 May 1, Jessa Crispin, “'Incel' culture has sparked panic and pity – but little thoughtful conversation”, in The Guardian

Origin

From crypto- + anarchist, popularized by Timothy C. May in The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto (1988).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German Krypto-Anarchist
  • Krypto-Anarchistproponent of crypto-anarchism
Portuguese criptoanarquista
  • criptoanarquistaproponent of crypto-anarchism
Cite this entry
APA

crypto-anarchist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crypto-anarchist

MLA

“crypto-anarchist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crypto-anarchist. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crypto-anarchist,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crypto-anarchist.

Source: crypto-anarchist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.