Andreas M. Antonopoulos has been fascinated by the cypherpunk ethos since the early 1990s. A tech entrepreneur and computer scientist specializing in network design and security, he loved the idea of using cryptography as a defensive tool that allows individuals to claim, protect, and enforce fundamental freedoms.

“Cryptography gives individuals this ability to assert power, to assert sovereignty, to create the conditions that allow them to express human rights, and enforce human rights, and assert human rights,” he later explained.

When Antonopoulos first encountered and read the Bitcoin white paper in 2011, he became captivated by Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention. He recognized that the electronic cash system was a breakthrough in decentralized network design and believed it had the potential to change the world in profound ways.

In the years that followed, Antonopoulos quickly became one of the most influential figures in the Bitcoin space. Among other things, he co-hosted the Let’s Talk Bitcoin podcast (now renamed Speaking of Bitcoin), where he began sharing his insights; became a teaching fellow for the Masters program Digital Currencies at the University of Nicosia (Cyprus); and joined as a director of the nonprofit Crypto Currency Certification Consortium (C4), where he helped develop Bitcoin- and cryptocurrency-related security standards for exchanges and other custodial organizations.

But Antonopoulos was especially influential as an educator dedicated to sharing his knowledge. He wrote several books on Bitcoin, including Mastering Bitcoin (2014), a technical work explaining how Bitcoin works under the hood that became a foundational resource for developers; a significantly updated second edition was published in 2017. He also published the Internet of Money trilogy (2016, 2017, 2019), which articulates the importance of Bitcoin from more philosophical, social, and economic perspectives. In addition, he co-authored Mastering Ethereum (2018) and Mastering the Lightning Network (2021).

And perhaps most notable of all, throughout the 2010s Antonopoulos established himself as one of the most popular and respected speakers on Bitcoin. With a rare ability to explain complex technical topics in an accessible and compelling manner, he’d regularly draw packed rooms at conferences, meetups and other events around the world, while the recordings of these talks attracted millions of views online. For many, Antonopoulos became the voice that inspired them to get involved with Bitcoin.

At a time when the cryptocurrency was still widely associated with illicit activity, routinely compared to Ponzi schemes, and mostly attracted attention in context of its volatile price swings, Antonopoulos instead articulated a vision grounded in ethical principles such as freedom, openness, and neutrality. Combining technical expertise with genuine passion and a touch of humor, he excelled at explaining how Bitcoin could be a tool for individual empowerment for those suffering from inflation, capital controls, or corrupt banking systems.

More specifically, he helped to recontextualize Bitcoin as a tool for financial inclusion. Antonopoulos for example argued that the cryptocurrency’s decentralized and borderless properties would not primarily benefit citizens of Western countries, but rather offer a solution for people in the developing world who remain largely excluded from existing payment networks. Bitcoin isn’t most important for the one billion who already have access to modern financial infrastructure, he regularly pointed out, it’s for the other six billion.

While emphasizing the importance of self-custody (“not your keys, not your coins”), he contrasted Bitcoin with banks, credit card providers and payment processors, which he explained are frequently leveraged as tools for control and surveillance. Whereas these more traditional institutions monitor, record, and analyze how customers spend their money–opening the door to repression against dissidents, protestors, and civilians living under authoritarian regimes–Bitcoin offers a censorship resistant and privacy-oriented alternative.

“The democratization of finance is about the democratization of privacy–financial privacy–because financial privacy underpins all of our other human rights.” Antonopoulos argued. And: “The answer to dictators evading sanctions with cryptocurrency, is citizens evading dictators with cryptocurrency.”

Importantly, Antonopoulos’ Mastering book series and his recorded talks are freely accessible to anyone. In line with Bitcoin’s open source nature–and his own decades-long commitment to spreading knowledge–the books were written online, on GitHub, and free for anyone to read, share, and use in seminars, workshops, university courses, or elsewhere. Likewise, his talks on YouTube are published under an open license and remain unmonetized and ad-free, allowing them to be shown in educational settings; they have indeed been incorporated into educational courses such as the Saylor Academy and others.

Antonopoulos intends to donate half of the monetary reward he’ll receive as the recipient of the third Finney Freedom Prize to the nonprofit Creative Commons organization, which helps creators like himself share their creative works freely and legally.