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Worth noting that because all transactions are public, mixers aren't only for hiding from the government. They're also for hiding from the general public. Gener

Worth noting that because all transactions are public, mixers aren't only for hiding from the government. They're also for hiding from the general public. Generally when you make a small purchase you don't tell the store what your bank balance is, but with crypto you do...unless you use a mixer (or a privacy coin that effectively has mixing built in). The other way is to use a centralized exchange as your "mixer," which is transparent to the government but imposes extra fees and adds counterparty risk. Corporate use of public blockchains will almost certainly require privacy technologies, to avoid giving information to competitors.

w4llstr33t 5y ago
I like crypto but the way I read this is that it's a good number of the reasons that the existing financial infrastructure is better (particularly once the US infrastructure updates to things like instant FedNow payments). I think defaulting to using a mixer would be inconvenient and it could get folks flagged for even using it at all. Also, what ever happened to not re-using addresses? I know it doesn't make it totally private, but I thought it helps some, since you'd still have to tie addresses to identities somewhere in the chain.
- DennisP 5y ago
  If you just top off your spending wallet occasionally, it doesn't necessarily have to be more inconvenient than visiting an ATM, or paying your credit card bill if you don't have it drafted automatically. Seems to me that "getting folks flagged" for doing something innocent is a flaw in our government, more than a flaw in crypto. Not reusing addresses helps against casual inspection but with blockchain analysis these days, it's long obsolete as any sort of real privacy measure. It wouldn't be something corporations could use to protect competitive information. Also it's not useful at all on account-based chains like Ethereum.

w4llstr33t 5y ago

I like crypto but the way I read this is that it's a good number of the reasons that the existing financial infrastructure is better (particularly once the US infrastructure updates to things like instant FedNow payments). I think defaulting to using a mixer would be inconvenient and it could get folks flagged for even using it at all. Also, what ever happened to not re-using addresses? I know it doesn't make it totally private, but I thought it helps some, since you'd still have to tie addresses to identities somewhere in the chain.

DennisP 5y ago
If you just top off your spending wallet occasionally, it doesn't necessarily have to be more inconvenient than visiting an ATM, or paying your credit card bill if you don't have it drafted automatically. Seems to me that "getting folks flagged" for doing something innocent is a flaw in our government, more than a flaw in crypto. Not reusing addresses helps against casual inspection but with blockchain analysis these days, it's long obsolete as any sort of real privacy measure. It wouldn't be something corporations could use to protect competitive information. Also it's not useful at all on account-based chains like Ethereum.