I think all privacy coins will die eventually.
I don’t want them to, but I think it’s inevitable.
On Privacy
I’m a private person, if it wasn’t already obvious.
I’m not all-the-way-over-to-the-right on the privacy spectrum, but I think it’s important for people to be able to choose this route if they want to.
“But the terrorisms!”
Can we just get this out in the open now?
How big of a threat is terrorism in 2023?
Do you lose any sleep over it?
How big of a threat was it really, back when it was all we were talking about?
And how much of that was our governments creating <redacted> <redacted> <redacted>
It’s like when Elizabeth Warren tries to convince the American people than we need to shut down Bitcoin because of “Money Laundering”.
Nobody gives a shit if other people launder money, because it doesn’t affect us any, and we hate taxes too, so low-key we may even support it.
You guys had us spooked with the whole “terrorism” thing 20 years ago, good job, well done, but nobody cares anymore.
“But the Northa Koreeeeeeaaaahhhh!”
Again, ask people in South Korea or Japan how scared they are of North Korea doing anything. Every year or so they lob a few empty missiles into the sea so they can get on the news and somebody will finally pay attention to them for once.
And then they fuck off and go away again.
The only reason that country still exists is because of China, and China is in no position to get itself into any kind of hot water that it didn’t create itself.
North Korean dictators are allowed to have the power they have because of the sanctions placed upon it. Have you ever considered that? Why ruin a good thing?
“But if you’re not doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t have anything to hide!”
These people miss the point entirely. I hate having to deal with one-dimensional thinkers, they’re the fucking worst, because they’re trapped in their own one-dimensional heads, yet they still want to argue, and you’ll never get them out of it.
I’ll say this slowly, on a blog post…
It’s not about that. It’s about not giving them an inch, because if we do, they’ll take everything.
Also, it helps to protect us from scammers, extortion, etc.
That’s where the beauty of crypto, and the privacy measures attached (to some of it at least) come in.
And everyone should want to protect that.
Because once it’s too late, you’re going to fucking hate it, I’m telling you.
But Privacy Is Dead Tho
We’ve already seen it.
If governments want to get you, they’re going to.
Their tech is elite, and will always be.
They absolutely can trace Bitcoin both ways if they absolutely wanted to.
And as for your own personal make-believe James Bond privacy bubble fantasy goes?
Unless you really want to go all the way with it (I “know” some of these people via Telegram groups and such, and I really really don’t think they’re very happy people. There is a level of accepted misery here), privacy died a long time ago.
Social media for one.
Have you ever taken an international flight out of the US, Mexico, or most of Europe? (Asia too probably, but I haven’t been in awhile)
Would you ever like to do this in the future?
Then you probably had to stare at a screen that took all of your biometrics before you could board the plane.
It’s over folks. I’m sorry.
And while I’m being candid here, there are aspects of this (and even aspects of a *gasp* social credit score) that I favor.
We’ve all seen the stories of whacked-out pill junkies trying to open the emergency door on moving planes.
Don’t you want to make sure those people can never fly again? Would you want them on your plane, even after rehab?
And remember, I’m generally pro-privacy. But there is nuance here, as there is to everything in life.
A lot of people are primarily worried about governments freezing their assets for having a certain political opinion, and how dystopian this would be if these people fully got their way.
This is understandable, but the good thing is so far, these people have gotten to see first-hand, just how unpopular this move is.
But crypto will not save you here, as I mentioned earlier.
If they want you, they will get you. Crypto IMO will actually make this endeavor EASIER as the years progress.
After all, can’t have a CBDC without the blockchain.
No More Monero or ZCash
To their credit (and I don’t hate either of these, don’t get it twisted), Monero and ZCash do a good job of avoiding most of the things I mentioned above.
And this is exactly why their future is bleak.
You do see a lot more crypto-friendly politicians arising from the midst, but….
None of them are preaching privacy.
Some of them like crypto for the avoidance of a CBDC, but you can achieve this with Bitcoin (which is what they really like), or a host of other tokens.
They will simply look the other way if any government wants to ban privacy coins.
I can’t even see a guy like Bukele coming to your rescue.
The supporting narrative for these things just isn’t ever going to be popular enough.
Do you really think pro-crypto candidates in the US like DeSantis and RFK Jr would have stood up for Tornado Cash?
Me neither. And they won’t be at the defense of Monero and ZCash either.
Best case scenario, XMR and ZEC can stay under the radar long enough to avoid the hammer of world governments.
….but if you think that, in any way, is a bull case…..
Price may go up on the overall beta of the rest of the market going up, but if you think these things really have a future, I applaud your resilience.
And as much as I support what they’re trying to do, I don’t see a reasonable and logical scenario where these things are able to be truly useful, or even exist, in the future.
— VP