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I watched as Monero was gradually dropped from a lot of the major exchanges over time with no real reason being provided. Same with zcash. My conspiracy theory

I watched as Monero was gradually dropped from a lot of the major exchanges over time with no real reason being provided. Same with zcash. My conspiracy theory is that there is a coordinated effort to make truly anonymous coins unusable.

nextstep 4y ago
That coordinated effort is not some big mystery; the exchanges that operate in major jurisdictions cannot offer Monero due to AML/KYC compliance rules. Monero is only available on the exchanges operating on the fringes of the banking network, or which don’t connect to banks at all.
salawat 4y ago
It is not a conspiracy theory. It is literally how financial regulations mandate the financial system works. Non-cash anonymous financial transactions have been no-no for a long while, in particular under AML/KYC. Over a certain amount, even cash transactions get wrapped in KYC/AML papertrail for law enforcement facilitation.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
bestbuyer__ 4y ago
Indeed. But I wouldn't consider ZCash to be in the same category as Monero, not with the way it was pre-mined, the sketchy key ceremony, the developers' willingness to co-operate with law enforcement, and the unshielded-by-default transactions.
- godelski 4y ago
  I'm out of the loop. Why does it matter if they cooperate with police? That would be like signal's big brother, right? If it is secure then there's nothing to really give them. I did hear they are removing the unshielded wallets and fixing the ceremony process fwiw.
  - bestbuyer__ 4y ago
    Because the main use-case of a privacy coin is for illegal transactions such as drug sales on the dark web, so co-operating with law enforcement entirely defeats the point.
- ChadNauseam 4y ago
  note that if they lied in the ceremony process, the only thing they could do is undetectably mint zcash. they would not be able to deanonymize shielded transactions
  - bestbuyer__ 4y ago
    That's not a very comforting thought...
wolongong942 4y ago
Thats not a conspiracy theory, they're about to implement mandatory flagging of non-exchange addresses. If you want to send or receive from one you'll need to provide the name/address of the counterparty.

nextstep 4y ago

That coordinated effort is not some big mystery; the exchanges that operate in major jurisdictions cannot offer Monero due to AML/KYC compliance rules. Monero is only available on the exchanges operating on the fringes of the banking network, or which don’t connect to banks at all.

salawat 4y ago

It is not a conspiracy theory. It is literally how financial regulations mandate the financial system works. Non-cash anonymous financial transactions have been no-no for a long while, in particular under AML/KYC. Over a certain amount, even cash transactions get wrapped in KYC/AML papertrail for law enforcement facilitation.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

bestbuyer__ 4y ago

Indeed. But I wouldn't consider ZCash to be in the same category as Monero, not with the way it was pre-mined, the sketchy key ceremony, the developers' willingness to co-operate with law enforcement, and the unshielded-by-default transactions.

godelski 4y ago
I'm out of the loop. Why does it matter if they cooperate with police? That would be like signal's big brother, right? If it is secure then there's nothing to really give them. I did hear they are removing the unshielded wallets and fixing the ceremony process fwiw.
- bestbuyer__ 4y ago
  Because the main use-case of a privacy coin is for illegal transactions such as drug sales on the dark web, so co-operating with law enforcement entirely defeats the point.
ChadNauseam 4y ago
note that if they lied in the ceremony process, the only thing they could do is undetectably mint zcash. they would not be able to deanonymize shielded transactions
- bestbuyer__ 4y ago
  That's not a very comforting thought...

wolongong942 4y ago

Thats not a conspiracy theory, they're about to implement mandatory flagging of non-exchange addresses. If you want to send or receive from one you'll need to provide the name/address of the counterparty.