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'Maybe I'll go to Hell, but I think it's a good thing' says plastic Liberator gunsmith Cody Wilson

3D-printed pistols, Bitcoin, government and more

Gun, schmun. Tell me about the Dark Wallet for Bitcoin

Those who write off Wilson as a one-trick pony gun enthusiast armed with a 3D printer are wrong. Wilson made numerous references to crypto-anarchism during his talk, and as Reason.com said, he is “far more than just a 'gun guy'.”

As well as Defense Distributed, Wilson is also working on a Bitcoin project called Dark Wallet. He was rather cagey about the exact details, but told The Register a little about its background.

Cody Wilson, founder of Defense Distributed

Cody Wilson, founder of Defense Distributed

“Bitcoin comes from a long strain of crypto-anarchist thought; how do we disintermediate the State?” said Wilson, explaining how Dark Wallet came into being. “So we got the anarchists together, all the [Bitcoin] miners, and pulled up a white paper.”

In Wilson's view, Bitcoin, as a movement, is getting too mainstream by courting governmental acceptance. He sees Dark Wallet as a means of redressing that balance, and moving back towards what he sees as its freedom-focussed beginnings: “We want to create a hub, a space, for people to acquire that focus.”

According to the Dark Wallet website, the project is built around “... a simple premise: Bitcoin in your browser. We want a beautiful experience with privacy features built in by default.”

“Even if Dark Wallet falls apart and someone pillages the code,” added Wilson, “it's important that someone knows anarchists were working on Bitcoin.”

Wilson also recognises that Bitcoin needs mainstream acceptance to survive, realising there's a basic conflict between Bitcoin as a potential consumer currency and the Bitcoin portrayed in the media as some kind of impenetrable libertarian plaything being hijacked by criminals. He joked: “Yes, there's a PR problem – I've heard some [potential investors] asking, 'How do we get these liberty people out of Bitcoin?'”

When it comes to the future of Bitcoin, Wilson thinks the crypto-currency's future will rest with a small handful of figures.

“I want there to be diversity in the Bitcoin world, don't get me wrong, and it's quite dangerous how pretty much everyone's running Bitcoin through pretty much the same package. I do want Bitcoin to be run by three or four, or maybe two or three different players.”

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