The subject line of the ETHDam newsletter was cheery: “ETHDAM III – The Merch, Circles, Thierry Baudet and more” ending on a large purple heart.
Buried in the middle, in big bold and italicized characters:
Thierry Baudet, our political ally in the Netherlands. Will take the stage at ETHDam.
A large pink button linking to FreeRogerNow.org was followed by a single sentence, again in bold and italics: We are not afraid to be political.
ETHDam is aligning itself with a far-right Dutch politician who is probably best known as the author of The Covid Conspiracy, with a preface by Steve Bannon. This book claims to document a conspiracy of Western governments during the “so-called” Covid pandemic, comparing government initiatives of lockdowns and vaccines to the persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany.
A quick skim of his Wikipedia entry gives a rundown of his other political beliefs with numerous citations. Dutch journalists and political analysts have extensively documented his radicalization from conservatism to neo-fascism as he has become more vocal about his beliefs that there is a calculated effort to destroy Western culture by academic and intellectual means.
The Wikipedia page includes more than eighty citations, most quoting him directly. He is driven by the desire to preserve “the native cultures and ethnicities of Europe”, the bloodlines of which he claims are being diluted homeopathically through EU initiatives. Last year, he called for the mass deportation of non-white immigrants in order to maintain a “white Europe”. He complains that Russia is being unnecessarily vilified for its role in the invasion of Ukraine and described Putin as a “huge hero”, fighting a “heroic” fight against globalists. He has stated outright that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by the US government as a false flag operation and in the same interview implied that the Apollo 11 Moon landing was staged. He was banned from speaking for eight days, an extremely rare situation in Dutch parliament, after claiming that the world is being governed by evil reptiles.
Yet despite this extensive record of extremism and conspiracy theories, ETHDam are proud to announce him as “our political ally”.
Shortly after the newsletter was sent, a query appeared in the official ETHDam Discord’s support channel.
Hi there, I just received the newsletter that Baudet is ‘our ally’ and is speaking at ETHDam.
This is extremely weird to me. The man is a complete nutjob that is lost in a maze of conspiracies and I don’t think it is a good idea to align yourself with him. He’s made racial comments on the relationship between race and IQ, he’s of the opinion that there is a plan by the government to ‘homeopathic dillute’ the Dutch culture and society by way of immigration and many other stupid things.
I believe organizers of crypto conferences should be extremely wary of inviting politicians. Crypto is an upgrade for the whole society and we need everyone on the political spectrum to agree on this upgrade. Inviting such a right wing clown will alienate people from this goal. Even if he made some positive remarks on crypto in the past, he’s a horrible fit for any serious conference.
But according to ETHDam, none of that matters. What matters is that he has spoken out in favor of Roger Ver, also known as “Bitcoin Jesus”. Blockblanc, the founder of CryptoCanal, answered in what appeared to be an official response, repeating the line from the newsletter.
It is our choice to platform various voices in crypto. We believe that disagreeing and healthy debates and discussions can shape the future, and we are not afraid to be political.
As event organisers, we don’t agree with all our speakers, or in this case Thierry Baudet’s agenda, but he’s the only politician in the Netherlands, that we know of, that has spoken out publicly for Roger Ver or Alexey Pertsev.
Now maybe the organisers of ETHDam truly believe that they are being brave. But the truth is, people who are not afraid to be political are those who take a principled stand. Putting a white nationalist on center stage while saying you don’t agree with their views is not edgy, it is opportunistic. Explaining that you don’t agree with fascists but think it is neat when they say crypto-friendly things is, quite frankly, a betrayal of the very ideals that the conference claims to stand for.
If you are willing to amplify extremism and call the speaker your ally, you cannot in the same breath claim that you are not endorsing their beliefs.
This is not neutrality; it’s complicity.
I signed up to attend ETHDam as my first conference because I have fallen in love with the ideals of Ethereum and I hoped to meet others who felt the same. I believed, and still try to believe, that we, as a community, are building something better. I believed the ETHDam website that the conference was about the cypherpunk ideals of privacy, ownership and censorship resistance.
But the political ideals of financial freedom and decentralization are not just casually misaligned with authoritarian manifestos; they are fundamentally incompatible. Baudet’s vision of a purified Europe depends on powerful centralized authorities deciding who belongs and who doesn’t. The contradiction isn’t incidental, it’s foundational.
Baudet’s utopia requires centralized power. Giving him a platform and calling him a a “political ally” isn’t courage. It’s dragging the Trojan horse into the courtyard. It’s handing the mic to the loudest, most destructive voice just because he happens to agree with you on one thing.
These are the same tactics being used to mainstream extremism around the world. We need to be better and smarter than that. This isn’t about censorship. It is about resisting their attempts to launder their credibility through our crypto platforms.
We should not allow bad actors to exploit our commitment to open protocols for their own closed agendas. If we’ve learned anything in the current world situation, it is that genuine inclusion requires boundaries. Without them, the most intolerant voices drive out diversity.
Having a single pro-crypto belief does not make someone aligned with the ethos of Ethereum, let alone cypherpunk ideals.
I believe that we are at a cultural crossroads where we need to decide: are we democratizing finance or are we amplifying authoritarianism?
Tornado Cash developer Alexey Persev is the headline speaker at ETHDam this year. Surely he can speak for the community on the subject of legal battles and the terrors of incarceration. I find it hard to believe that he needs the support of a conspiracy theorist who claims that we are being controlled by the lizard people.
Not everyone who praises decentralization believes that it should be for everyone. Some just want it unregulated long enough to build their empire.
The true test of our community isn’t whether we can build impressive technology. It is whether we have the courage to protect it from those who want to corrupt its purposes. If we truly believe that we are building a decentralized future for all, then honestly, how can we justify elevating those voices who believe some humans are worth less than others?
