Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by CyberDildonics on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @01:20PM
(#16063486)
Really? I've bought many things with bitcoin and now a few with etherum ( although its client software is good awful electron bloat ). I see this line repeated and it just isn't true. Computer parts, everything on overstock, gift cards, vpns,
Vps, domain registration, nootropics, etc are all there for multiple cryptocurrencies. People who say this have their head in the sand. If Bitcoin core hadn't destroyed btc, steam, Newegg, tiger direct and dell would all be available.
Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by sametmax on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @08:26AM
(#16060751)
It's not a secret. It's pretty much the opposite of a secret actually.
Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by gt_ on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @02:58AM
(#16059327)
That’s not a secret, evidenced by the relentless reminders in every HN crypto post comment section.
I can’t argue with the value of these reminders, though.
Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by blueprint on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @06:43AM
(#16060195)
You're making big generalizations about lack of usage and economy, and you've provided no citations or verifyable grounds. For example, did you know about https://www.projectcoralreef.com?
Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by htormey on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @08:54AM
(#16060937)
In regards to bitcoin I believe he is correct. About 97% of the activity appears to be people on exchanges:
https://seekingalpha.com/amp/article/4122695-bitcoin-series-...
This mainly appears to be due to transaction times and high fees.
I’d be interested to see a similar analysis for monero but that’s probably not easily doable due to its privacy features.
Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by lawlessone on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @06:52AM
(#16060230)
All i see are various online "stores" for buying kitsch band tshirts.
Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by anonytrary on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @02:59AM
(#16059328)
> traders mostly don't need to be anonymous.
Not sure I follow -- you suggest exchanges should send out who placed an order in the book, in addition to the price, amount, order type, etc.? Wouldn't that be a massive breach of privacy? Or are you not talking about exchanges?
Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by shrimpx on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @04:28AM
(#16059644)
I think GP is saying that many/most people just trade Monero/Zcash for profit, they don't actually care about concealing their own transactions.
Re:The Criminal Underworld Is Dropping Bitcoin for Monero
by plasticmachine on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @11:50AM
(#16062585)
But they DO need privacy, they're more at risk of targeted theft than regular users. ZCash fails at this by making it impossibly hard for an exchange to allow z-address withdrawals, and impossibly hard for a mobile app / hardware wallet to support them, which means large holders withdrawing from an exchange are painting a target on their back.
The dirty secret of crypto is that there is almost no economy that exists for any of the altcoins, and relatively little even for Bitcoin (which functions as the reserve currency due to its lions' share of the economy).
Effectively, by volume most altcoins are held by either miners (who sell immediately), or daytraders who will pump and dump. A very small fraction is held by true believers (who will HODL under all circumstances), but they don't contribute to the economy either.
Such people don't care about anonymity, they're not actually using the currency, they're just traders, and traders mostly don't need to be anonymous.