Re:Zcash, an untraceable Bitcoin alternative, launches in alpha
by natrius on Tuesday January 26, 2016 @02:11PM
(#10975233)
Money's power relies on its transitivity. Bob accepts Alice's payment because he can use it to pay Charlie. Charlie's decision to accept that money is what gives Alice power. If Alice runs a violent cartel in Mexico, Charlie can reject Alice's power. If he uses anonymous money like dollars or Zcash, Charlie is forced to submit to Alice's power because her power is invisible.
There are many evil ways to acquire money, and anonymous money makes us all supporters of that evil. We should stop it.
> Consider people donating to WikiLeaks or similar, where the sender might not want a record of where they sent their money.
The government knows who's donating to WikiLeaks. To state actors, money is already identifiable. People like you and me are powerless when it comes to money, so we can't stop the people who have purchased our government. Let's fix that.
I don't understand how this is "easy". Money doesn't become evil because of how it was earned, that's just an overly emotional way of looking at a system of transactions.
> Money is power. Anonymous money prevents you from choosing which power you'd like to submit to. Decentralized money prevents governments from restricting power. Let's keep the decentralization and remove the anonymity so you can reject power you find undesirable.
That's ridiculous FUD. Consider people donating to WikiLeaks or similar, where the sender might not want a record of where they sent their money. If the source of the money is anonymous, there's no "power" involved. Nobody can force you to do something under the pretext of "but that's what I paid you for".