Bitcoin is perfect for mass surveillance and privacy invasion.
It's as if all transactions, of any size, can be perpetually tracked, with a courtroom-ready digital signature reducing evidence doubt about who made a transaction.
Re:Coinbase from YC to DPO
by betterunix2 on Wednesday April 14, 2021 @09:46PM
(#26815324)
Also, unlike traditional banks, there is absolutely nothing preventing someone from reviewing that transaction record. No need to ask a judge for permission, no need to ask the bank to reveal records, no need to let anyone -- anyone -- know what you are up to.
Re:Coinbase from YC to DPO
by porknubbins on Wednesday April 14, 2021 @11:59PM
(#26816062)
I believe it takes relatively sophisticated analysis (ie the kind of real world snooping that state actors do) to tie someone to a particular address without them publishing it. Just because there is this huge theoretical vulnerability doesn’t mean most blockchain transactions aren’t secret from even smaller states.
Now we have crypto currency companies floating as public companies, and others (e.g. Tesla) heavily invested, speculatively, in Bitcoin - maybe crypto currency had now reached a point where it's too big to fail?
OTOH, some western governments and their security apparatus are all-in on mass surveillance and privacy invasion, and they are going to hate any real degree of currency anonymity, so more regulation could still be on the cards, but perhaps in (secret) consultation with the likes of CoinBase. The likes of Monero and Zcash are likely targets.