On November 28, we hosted the second Berlin Circle at Holzmarkt 25, a place many Berliners regard as a grassroots counterweight to the city’s ongoing gentrification.
1. Attendees
- Youssef
- Software engineer at SoundCloud
- Interested in activism and freedom of speech
- Sergei
- Working for Logos (formerly Waku)
- Background in academic space, Bitcoin, Ethereum
- Sarah
- Co-founder of Regen Network – Edge City
- Contributor to Network Nation
- Leaving Berlin soon
- Charlie
- Working on city expansion and governance for 13–14 years
- Involved with a Swiss association for land trust
- Leaving Berlin soon
- Daniel
- Interdisciplinary researcher (PhD-level)
- Currently working for a school
- Project related to safe sovereignty / sovereign infrastructure
- Not from Berlin; was visiting for this meeting
- “Peace Pirates” circus caravan (Harmonautica)
- Caravan projects linked to conflict or crisis regions (e.g. Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan)
- Website: http://www.harmonautica.live/
2. Topic: Decentralised Private Communication
- Focus on Ethereum-based decentralised communication protocols and the challenge of staying open while resisting spam.
- Open networks must remain accessible, but spammers can easily abuse them.
Past approach:
- Tried Whisper (Ethereum’s early messaging protocol).
- Conclusion: not very scalable for broad use.
Current direction:
- Moving away from a pure crypto-first framing toward messaging as a primary use case.
- Exploring zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) as a tool for:
- Registering membership in a network.
- Allowing each user to send only a limited number of messages.
- Preventing spam without collecting or exposing unnecessary personal data.
- Key idea:
- You can check that a user is not spamming
- While still protecting privacy and minimizing data exposure.
3. Winnable Issues in Berlin
Discussion about focusing on concrete, “winnable” issues where technology, activism, and local organisation can realistically make a difference.
3.1 Water Activism in Berlin
- Emphasis on drinkable water and the protection of big lakes and river systems.
- Concerns around:
- Impacts of coal mining and industry on water quality and quantity.
- Practices where companies release too much water or pollutants back into sources.
- Themes:
- Sovereignty of rivers – treating rivers as entities or commons that need legal and social protection.
- Supporting and connecting river groups and local environmental organisations.
3.2 Bürgergeld (Basic Income / Social Support)
- Focus on Bürgergeld in Germany and the problem of slow bureaucracy.
- Many people are formally entitled to receive this money, but processes can delay access.
- Ideas discussed:
- Use of digital identity verification and secure document uploads to:
- Speed up identity and eligibility checks.
- Reduce friction for applicants.
- Ensure quicker access to essential financial support.
- Use of digital identity verification and secure document uploads to:
3.3 Kältebus
- Kältebus: cold-weather outreach buses supporting homeless and vulnerable people in Berlin.
- Seen as an example of practical, on-the-ground support infrastructure.
- Potential interest in:
- Better coordination, data, and communication tools (possibly privacy-preserving) to make such services more effective and responsive.
3.4 Housing & Privacy
- Problem identified:
- Prospective tenants often have to share large amounts of personal and financial data with multiple potential landlords.
- Proposed direction:
- Use zero-knowledge proofs to allow tenants to:
- Prove they meet certain requirements (income level, verified identity, no major arrears, etc.)
- Without revealing all underlying details to every landlord.
- Use zero-knowledge proofs to allow tenants to:
- Goal:
- Balance tenant privacy with landlord risk management, reducing data exposure while keeping the rental process functional.