Privacy on Monero vs Bitcoin with Seth for Privacy

 
 

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“People need to realise that politics can rapidly change, countries can rapidly change. And the things you do today on-chain and Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, those things last forever.”
— Seth for Privacy

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Seth for Privacy is a privacy advocate and host of the Opt Out Podcast. In this interview, we discuss how financial privacy protects all other rights, the current limitations with Bitcoin’s privacy, and Monero’s protocol privacy that some Bitcoiners find beneficial.

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Most people have slowly acquiesced to the undermining of personal privacy by tech companies. There has been a trade-off: free access to powerful social media software for the monetisation of our data. The problem is a false sense of security has been allowed to fester: there is a material lack of concern that such transgressions could become more malign and overt abuses of power.

The wake-up call for many was the treatment of the Candian truckers. Not many foresaw Bitcoin’s privacy weaknesses being exploited by a western liberal democratic power led by a young charismatic leader. But they were exploited. The Canadian authorities were unrepentant. And there was nothing the truckers could do. Once your privacy is compromised that’s it.

Whilst it is a wake-up (or should be a wake-up call), Bitcoin’s fully auditable pseudonymous transaction history presents significant privacy challenges. That’s not to say that non-technical users can’t improve their privacy using Bitcoin, or that privacy concerns always need to be front and centre of decisions to hold Bitcoin. Rather, there may be another option under certain circumstances.

Monero is an altcoin that some Bitcoiners are willing to adopt given its unique out-of-the-box privacy features. It is being used to complement the use case for Bitcoin. And yet, there is still toxicity from some quarters towards Monero and those who advocate for it. Is this healthy? Does Monero deserve to be treated like other altcoins?

Fundamentally, should Bitcoiners be open to using Monero? Or, do maximalists who have served the community well express warranted concerns? What are the tradeoffs being made and how do they affect users?

TIMESTAMPS

00:03:50: Introductions
00:06:05: Bitcoin maximalists and Monero
00:09:59: The need for digital privacy
00:18:37: Constitutional privacy in the US
00:22:08: Privacy solutions
00:27:35: Privacy limitations for Bitcoin
00:32:05: Building privacy into Bitcoin through a hard fork
00:36:51: Regulatory restrictions on privacy
00:47:24: Atomic swaps
00:49:30: Delisting Monero
00:52:15: Bitcoin vs Monero
00:56:48: Monero's privacy features
01:03:55: A comparison of block size and transaction time
01:06:34: Comparing fees and the money supply
01:11:18: A Lightning-type Network for Monero
01:13:52: Weaknesses in Monero privacy
01:19:48: Bitcoiner zealotry impeding Monero's adoption, and Monero maximalists
01:28:45: Final comments

 

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SHOW NOTES

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Mentioned in the interview:

Other Relevant WBD Podcasts:

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