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A comment on $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse. Parent comment

Re:$3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save U... by woodruffw on Monday May 16, 2022 @02:24PM (#31401426)
> Why can't non-institutional actors achieve the same level of privacy?

Non-institutional actors are transacting over an immutable public ledger. Institutional actors are transacting via backchannels. In other words: the cryptocurrency transaction space is "schizophrenic": the traffic that supports high valuations is not settled on the chain itself, but via gentlemen's agreements. Non-institutional actors could do the same thing (and get the same privacy), but then it's just normal money laundering instead of "decentralized finance."

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Re:$3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save U... by thebean11 on Monday May 16, 2022 @02:51PM (#31401745)
> Institutional actors are transacting via backchannels.

As in, they are keeping funds on centralized exchanges? Users can do the exact same thing if they want, not sure I get your point.

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Re:$3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save U... by woodruffw on Monday May 16, 2022 @03:07PM (#31401923)
See the original comment: the point is that there's no actual way to verify the central claim ("$3B in Bitcoin was sold [...]"). We're expected to take everyone's word for it. This is in marked contrast to how two arbitrary users are expected to transact via a blockchain.
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Re:$3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save U... by thebean11 on Monday May 16, 2022 @03:13PM (#31401981)
How would you verify that something was sold outside of a blockchain? The receiver of the item would need to prove it's in their possession, which is pretty easy on BTC.

I guess I'm not sure how you get from that to privacy only being achievable by institutions?

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Re:$3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save U... by woodruffw on Monday May 16, 2022 @03:19PM (#31402069)
I didn't. That's not a property I want in a financial system; it's one I want in a legal system.

The only points being made are that (1) virtually nobody actually wants their entire life's transactions recorded on an immutable public ledger, and (2) the people whose economic activity currently backs the speculate value of these coins play by a different rulebook entirely.

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Re:$3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save U... by thebean11 on Monday May 16, 2022 @03:26PM (#31402146)
> the people whose economic activity currently backs the speculate value of these coins play by a different rulebook entirely

I guess this is where I don't know what you mean, specifically

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