Welcome to the 3rd Edition of ETHDam, hosted May 9–11, 2025 in Amsterdam. This year, we brought together the brightest minds in privacy, security, and AI for a unique 48-hour hackathon + conference combo.
🌷 www.ethdam.com// 🌷

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Firo | The fight for the middle ground in web3 privacy - Reuben Yap | ETHDam III - 2025

🎤 About the Speaker:
Reuben Yap is the Project Steward of Firo, a privacy-preserving cryptocurrency and has played a pivotal role in shaping its strategy and vision.

His team has developed privacy protocols utilizing zero-knowledge proofs, egalitarian proof of work algorithms, and privacy-preserving e-voting technologies. In 2018, his team assisted the Thai Democrat Party in running its primary party elections on Firo's blockchain, making it the largest-ever political election on the blockchain.

He has been involved in privacy technology since 2007, having founded SE Asia's largest VPN provider and was also the first Malaysian online merchant to accept cryptocurrency in early 2013.

Reuben has spoken at or been quoted in leading Web3 events and prominent news outlets such as BBC, RT.com, Nasdaq, DEF CON Hacking Conference, Token 2049, Blockshow Asia and Europe, Binance Blockchain Week, Blocfest, Coindesk, and Cointelegraph. He has also delivered talks and participated in panels on blockchain and web3 at National University Singapore, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Asia School of Business and Swinburne University.

Before going full-time in Web3, he was a partner at Reddi & Co., a law firm in Sarawak. He graduated from Nottingham University with an LLB (Hons) and was called to the bar in Sabah and Sarawak in 2007.

𝕏 Follow Reuben Yap and Firo:
x.com/reubenyap firo.org/ x.com/firoorg

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About ETHDam & CryptoCanal
ETHDam is powered by CryptoCanal, an education and events platform rooted in Amsterdam, expanding into Rotterdam and Zürich.

Keep up with us to see updates on future events: www.cryptocanal.org/
Follow CryptoCanal on X: twitter.com/CryptoCanal
Join CryptoCanal TG Community: t.me/CryptoCanalCommunity
Join CryptoCanal Discord: discord.com/invite/XJVjpCqQBz

CryptoCanal unites crypto enthusiasts committed to making a positive impact. Unapologetically political, we prioritize education, events, and services while championing cypherpunk values like privacy, sovereignty, and censorship resistance.

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🎥 Credits:
Intro / outro by babyPRO - babypro.art/
ETHDam Photography by Paulus – concretestate.eu/

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Special thanks to our partners who made ETHDam possible:
🌹 Hackathon – Bouquet:
Oasis Network oasisprotocol.org/

🌷 Hackathon – Petal:
Circles aboutcircles.com/

💛 Conference – Gold:
Zano zano.org/
Dash www.dash.org/
Bitvavo bitvavo.com/en

🩶 Conference – Silver:
Igra Labs igralabs.com/hero

💛 Conference – Copper:
Lido lido.fi/
DeTrip detrip.travel/
Cake Wallet cakewallet.com/
The Grid thegrid.id/
Calimero Network calimero.network/
0xbow 0xbow.io/
Mina minaprotocol.com/
JobStash jobstash.xyz/
Cyber Capital www.cyber.capital/
POAP poap.xyz/
Acronym Foundation (Supported our Top 10 Hackers) acronymfoundation.org/

🌱 Sponsor:
EF Ecosystem Support Program esp.ethereum.foundation/

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0:00 Intro
2:00 Regulatory Threats and Legal Landscape
5:00 The Privacy Spectrum: Maximalist to Compliant
8:00 Public Perception and Media Narratives
13:00 Why Middle Ground Matters
20:00 Privacy Pools and Trade-Offs
24:00 Risks of Losing Centralized Exchange Access
26:30 Unity Across Privacy Projects and Fin