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Manifesto and public correspondence

The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto

Tim May

Written 1988 · posted 22 November 1992

Editorial introduction

May imagines electronic markets in which people exchange messages, negotiate contracts and transact without disclosing their legal identities. Reputation, rather than a civil name, becomes an organising principle. His accompanying 1992 message distinguishes the earlier manifesto from its later circulation on the mailing list.

This is a political forecast, not evidence that any present-day network guarantees anonymity. May also acknowledges destructive and criminal uses of the same capabilities. Read those qualifications alongside his predictions about government, trust and information markets.

“Reputations will be of central importance”

Tim May · short excerpt from the linked source

A question to take into the text

Can financial privacy and durable reputation coexist without legal-name identity?

Source & permissions

Read the source · activism.net historical copy ↗

Source reviewed 2026-09-27. Editorial summary and short quotation only; no permission to mirror the full text has been established.

The full work is not mirrored here. The introduction above is 0xNull editorial commentary, not the author’s own words.

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