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Are these idiots really still using bitcoin for doing shady stuff lol? Bitcoin can totally be traced. Most people using it are so weak in terms of their securit

Are these idiots really still using bitcoin for doing shady stuff lol? Bitcoin can totally be traced. Most people using it are so weak in terms of their security.

malux85 7y ago
If you don’t know something as basic as how to make bitcoin untraceable, then you’re the idiot.
- grepthisab 7y ago
  I don't know anything about Bitcoin. Am I an idiot?
  - malux85 7y ago
    No, that's an unwarranted extrapolation of what I said.
    - shkkmo 7y ago
      It doesn't seem like an extrapolation given how you phrased it. If you meant to say that "it is only idiocy if you don't know how to anonymize your Bitcoin usage", that is not at all how your comment comes across.
      - malux85 7y ago
        The parent comment cast the first stone by calling the bitcoin users idiots because bitcoin is traceable. The gap between knowing enough to trace bitcoin, and knowing enough to make bitcoin untraceable is tiny, which means anyone understanding enough to know that bitcoin is traceable bit not bothering to research how it can be untraceable is an idiot (when they go online and call all users idiots, dsspite not having done a tiny bit of research into something pretty well known int the community). Not normally my choice of words, but I chose to use the language of the comment to humble him a little. And I was talking to the commenter directly, not generalizing to all bitcoin users. THAT IS an unwarranted extrapolation.
        shkkmo 7y ago
        > And I was talking to the commenter directly, not generalizing to all bitcoin users. That is worse. Personal attacks on HN are not acceptable.
        malux85 7y ago
        so it's ok for the parent? and what about responding to the rest of my comment/points rather than nit picking
abstractbarista 7y ago
This is not looking at the whole picture. The key is, you do not allow your BTC usage to comingle with your real identity. This means you both buy and sell stuff solely with BTC. If you want to buy stuff in the "real world" then you can trade some for Monero or maybe ZCash, and then convert to USD. (Optionally mix it further in other ways..) BTC is really "psuedoanonymous" because while you can certainly trace my transactions if you know a wallet address, you still have no idea who or where I am as long as I do not reveal that wallet to be connected to any "real world" identity. This is still not easy though. For example, if you're serious then you must only transmit transactions within Tor, otherwise the originating IP may single you out. Ideally you should use different wallets for each transactions, and only pool them together after they have each been converted to XMR or similar. There's lots of gotchas but frankly it's a decent system.

Are these idiots really still using bitcoin for doing shady stuff lol? Bitcoin can totally be traced. Most people using it are so weak in terms of their security.

malux85 7y ago

If you don’t know something as basic as how to make bitcoin untraceable, then you’re the idiot.

grepthisab 7y ago
I don't know anything about Bitcoin. Am I an idiot?
- malux85 7y ago
  No, that's an unwarranted extrapolation of what I said.
  - shkkmo 7y ago
    It doesn't seem like an extrapolation given how you phrased it. If you meant to say that "it is only idiocy if you don't know how to anonymize your Bitcoin usage", that is not at all how your comment comes across.
    - malux85 7y ago
      The parent comment cast the first stone by calling the bitcoin users idiots because bitcoin is traceable. The gap between knowing enough to trace bitcoin, and knowing enough to make bitcoin untraceable is tiny, which means anyone understanding enough to know that bitcoin is traceable bit not bothering to research how it can be untraceable is an idiot (when they go online and call all users idiots, dsspite not having done a tiny bit of research into something pretty well known int the community). Not normally my choice of words, but I chose to use the language of the comment to humble him a little. And I was talking to the commenter directly, not generalizing to all bitcoin users. THAT IS an unwarranted extrapolation.
      - shkkmo 7y ago
        > And I was talking to the commenter directly, not generalizing to all bitcoin users. That is worse. Personal attacks on HN are not acceptable.
        malux85 7y ago
        so it's ok for the parent? and what about responding to the rest of my comment/points rather than nit picking

abstractbarista 7y ago

This is not looking at the whole picture. The key is, you do not allow your BTC usage to comingle with your real identity. This means you both buy and sell stuff solely with BTC. If you want to buy stuff in the "real world" then you can trade some for Monero or maybe ZCash, and then convert to USD. (Optionally mix it further in other ways..) BTC is really "psuedoanonymous" because while you can certainly trace my transactions if you know a wallet address, you still have no idea who or where I am as long as I do not reveal that wallet to be connected to any "real world" identity. This is still not easy though. For example, if you're serious then you must only transmit transactions within Tor, otherwise the originating IP may single you out. Ideally you should use different wallets for each transactions, and only pool them together after they have each been converted to XMR or similar. There's lots of gotchas but frankly it's a decent system.