Famed whistleblower Edward Snowden thinks the crypto community should be wary of a spot-based Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

While speaking at the Bitcoin Amsterdam 2023 event last week, the former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee warned about the potential dangers of letting traditional finance gain power over the top crypto asset.

“I think we need to remember that particularly in these moments of instability, that we are all part of a much bigger game, and Bitcoin is one of our strongest levers in that.

The systems that we are influencing, that we are exerting leverage on – payments and finance – will shape what the world of tomorrow looks like. Now we have to cross some hurdles to get there in a meaningful way.

Right now the reason everybody’s getting excited about the price is they’re thinking about ETFs or whatever. We don’t really want that to be the thing that moves price, even if price is moving. Because that is a kind of subordination, that is a kind of subjugation that is a process of taming that we see being played out.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed decisions on a slew of spot BTC ETF applications, including BlackRock’s, in late September.

The final deadline for the SEC to review one application, the ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF, is on January 10th.

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