An anon is a colloquial term used within the cryptocurrency and blockchain communities to describe an individual or entity that wishes to remain anonymous or pseudonymous. The term is derived from "anonymous" and has deep roots in online cultures. Within the context of crypto and blockchain, "anon" can refer to developers, users, or any participant who prefers to keep their identity a secret.^[1][2]

Overview

The term "anon" and the broader culture of online anonymity can be traced back to internet forums and imageboards, most notably 4chan, where users were often referred to as "anons". In the website’s early days, users often organized group pranks called "raids," flooding chat rooms in games and other online communities to cause disruptions. 4chan began cracking down on the raids after critics accused participants of cyberbullying and posting offensive content. As the blockchain and crypto sectors grew, the ethos of privacy and decentralization drew in many who aligned with this culture, leading to its adoption within the community.^[4]

Notable Anon Figures and Projects

• Satoshi Nakamoto: The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, whose identity remains one of the biggest mysteries in the crypto world.

• BAYC founders Wylie Aronow, Greg Solano, Kerem Atalay, and Zeshan Ali were anons before being doxxed.

• 0xngmi: The pseudonymous founder of DefiLlama. In one of the interviews, they mentioned:

  “For me going anon meant a reset to 0. I had been building in crypto for some time, and when I went anon, that meant I had to start from zero, losing all the work I had put into my reputation, relationships, past work and studies. People will trust you less, since the cost of doing something bad is lower for anons and we might be hiding something (eg: ex-convicts or ex-scammers)”^[3]

• Chef Nomi: The pseudonymous founder of SushiSwap, a fork of Uniswap.

• Pepe (cryptocurrency) is a deflationary memecoin launched on Ethereum. The cryptocurrency was created as a tribute to the Pepe the Frog internet meme, created by Matt Furie, which gained popularity in the early 2000s.