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A significant fraction of crypto applications cannot work at scale without privacy-protected transactions, and the first major privacy smart contract on Ethereu
by ETH_start 4y ago
A significant fraction of crypto applications cannot work at scale without privacy-protected transactions, and the first major privacy smart contract on Ethereum - Tornado Cash - was just made illegal to use for Americans by the OFAC. The criminalization of privacy-protected financial transactions is the biggest risk that crypto faces AFAICS.
The need for law enforcement authorities to achieve Total Information Awareness over all private financial transactions stands opposed to a vision of ubiquitous electronic cash, with decentralized and peer-to-peer electronic transactions.
- imtringued 4y agoThere is GNU Taler but whenever you see it being talked about on hacker news you will find comments that border on conspiracy theory even though when you look at the technical design of GNU Taler it offers more privacy than Bitcoin or Ethereum. Apparently providing both privacy to buyers and following AML and income reporting laws at the same time is crossing some line because "the government is always wrong". It is kind of like following the law is frowned upon in the cryptocurrency space which is why any competitor that can actually follow the law must be nipped in the bud. I don't believe crypto users care about privacy except maybe when they use Montero.
- ETH_start 4y agoYou cannot comply with AML and income tax reporting, and protect privacy. If society is serious about privacy, it needs to abolish both the warrantless financial surveillance approach to crime fighting, i.e. AML, and the income tax that necessitates it. Otherwise, both cash, and its electronic corollaries, need to be banned to have the laws consistently and effectively enforced.