The argument for privacy in monetary transactions is much more nuanced than the one for simple text messages. Reducing privacy in text messages only punishes the “good guys”, as bad guys can still use e2ee communication media very easily.
For monetary transactions, things get more complicated. Tax evasion, money laundering, human trafficking, purchase of weapons can be done using super private payment systems. If adoption of this becomes widespread, then liquidity of these currencies increase. For example, if I’m selling illegal weapons, then the Monero that I receive from that purchase needs to be somehow converted into real money so that I can buy a house, groceries and so on. If Monero becomes widespread, then I don’t even need to this.
Imagine Bezos, musk and all the other crooks just getting way way more of powerful.
How do they handle the traceability aspect? Like, if it’s a blockchain, that makes transactions public by definition right?
I mean, if you’re selling illegal weapons, you can probably just take cash for 'em. Can’t exactly do that when you’re paying an artist on a different continent to draw some art for you.
The argument for privacy in monetary transactions is much more nuanced than the one for simple text messages. Reducing privacy in text messages only punishes the “good guys”, as bad guys can still use e2ee communication media very easily.
For monetary transactions, things get more complicated. Tax evasion, money laundering, human trafficking, purchase of weapons can be done using super private payment systems. If adoption of this becomes widespread, then liquidity of these currencies increase. For example, if I’m selling illegal weapons, then the Monero that I receive from that purchase needs to be somehow converted into real money so that I can buy a house, groceries and so on. If Monero becomes widespread, then I don’t even need to this.
Imagine Bezos, musk and all the other crooks just getting way way more of powerful.
Not quite. They use something called “ring signatures”.
I mean, if you’re selling illegal weapons, you can probably just take cash for 'em. Can’t exactly do that when you’re paying an artist on a different continent to draw some art for you.
Ring signatures look neat!