> prove me wrong by fighting this straw man I created
> bitcoin has the same anonymity as cash
Prove yourself right by showing me the publicly available transaction history of every dollar bill in existence.
You can't track cash as it changes hands. You can track which bank ATM it left and which one it wound up in, that's about it. Cash can't be tracked from one hand to another using serial numbers.
Actually you can, yes, and people have. I know of several examples in my circles. And they're all bitcoiners too.. yet Monero is the tool they use. And no, it's not because they don't want to spend the BTC
.. they sold BTC for XMR on a DEX for the purpose, in other words, using the tools we have available as they're intended.
They all chose #monero for the same reasons I would have:
- No way this tx would work on Lightning (amount too high) in most conditions
- They don't want the seller to identify portions of their transparent BTC stash
But even if they couldn't use XMR, because hypothetically it's heavily criminalized (in most parts of the world, if you don't know, paying cash for a house is totally normal, so paying XMR for a house wouldn't be strange), what, you would take that as victory? Makes no sense.
It's really simple and for a guy who goes by the handle "Cypherpunk", you should get it!
Cypherphunks build and use anonymous systems, because otherwise and inevitably, those systems become tools for mass-surveillance and not tools for liberation.
Look, it's really simple:
Is Bitcoin private? No, you can always see the amounts, source and destination.
Is Bitcoin anonymous? No, it's pseudonymous, and weakly so, the more you use it the more you dig your own grave, and the evidence is eternally available for perusal by literally anyone at any time from now til the end of time.
On the other hand ....
Is Monero private? Yes.
Is Monero anonymous? Yes.
So Monero is the cypherpunk dream money. That's just how it is. It's super intelectually dishonest to not acknowledge this in my opinion.
This is why we say Bitcoin is like a cult sometimes. The truth can be staring you in the face, but the heavy fog of dogma won't let you see it.
They're both tools, Bitcoin is not good for everything, and neither is Monero, because there are no solutions, only tradeoffs.
See past the dogma please, you're a smart guy. It's obvious, Monero is the best tool for financial privacy at the moment, just as Bitcoin is the best tool for maintaining & increasing purchasing power over the medium and long-term.
I'll end with this. Most Monero people I know would agree that if Bitcoin did everything Monero can, there would be no need for Monero.
If it was the other way around, would you have the same attitude?
The answer determines whether you see these technologies as tools to be used, or religions to be followed.
We see tools. There is no cognitive dissonance.
Maxis see religion, dogma, holy books and priests. It's all or nothing, black or white, and anyone who says otherwise is an heretic.
Sounds familiar?
Cordially,
Papa Figos
