POV: You are in a country with transfer tax, high VAT, and high taxes in general: “Cash or card?” “Cash.” “Nice!”

Optimists buy gold, pessimists buy cans.

Using Zcash as a mixer doesn't work — transactions going in and out can be correlated by time and value. The only way to break this link is to use it as a store of value. If the market demands more financial privacy and understands this dynamic, value will accrue to Zcash.

Money is technology — technology evolves.

The future is private.

Get worse to get better.

The claim that you lost your coins in a boating accident is more credible if those coins cannot be traced.

Who would have thought that we weren't shitposting on Reddit 10 years ago but were training superintelligence.

You can define an encoding that maps any blob of data to a single number. To censor certain data, you'd have to censor certain numbers. But under a different encoding, those numbers would be different. So: censor all numbers.

Your threat model should include sophisticated technical attackers. But don't forget to include the unsophisticated non-technical religious mob.

Having shielded transactions does not only make coins more fungible, it also makes transactions more censorship resistant. You cannot censor selectively what you cannot differentiate. Lesson in there.

Bitcoiners: The network is censorship resistant. Somehow also Bitcoiners: Let’s figure out how we can best filter “undesirable transactions”.

The free market is a harsh mistress.

“What if a plumber came and fixed your sink and you paid him $40? He went into the bank and he goes, ‘I’d like to cash this check. Mr. McAfee wrote it to me and I’d like my $40, and, while you’re there, would you please tell me what his balance is, and, from now on, forever, would you please inform me every time he has an incoming wire or deposit, and every check that he writes, and to whom?’” “That’s what bitcoin is,” McAfee said. “Would you be happy if your bank did that?” He added, “Please, you know you wouldn’t. We know, if anybody has any sense, and if you understand human nature, then privacy coins will be the winner.” Privacy coins, also sometimes referred to as anonymous coins, are cryptocurrencies such as monero (XMR) and zcash (ZEC) that tout capabilities to hide transactions and other activities. (from a John McAfee interview with Forbes in 2019)

Some cryptocurrency tribes build bridges and trade with other tribes. Others go to war and isolate themselves. Which strategy is more likely to succeed in the long run?

I have this theory that a lot of social media is dominated by psychopaths, narcissists, and autists. Psychopaths don't give a shit if people like them or not. Narcissists feed on any form of attention. And autists are so obsessed with a topic that they can ignore the hate.

So many layers in this picture.

I talked to a banker in rural Bavaria yesterday and he told me how people were taking out 100k EUR in cash when they had negative interest rates and stored it in a barn. And then put it back in their normal bank account when they were back at 0% interest. Normies are so cooked.

Pair programming is the new default modus operandi.

Never trust a politician you haven't compromised yourself.