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426 sats \ 7 replies \ @antic 2 Dec 2023 freebie \ parent \ on: Btc privacy tradeoffs, overt and covert bitcoin
I’m not concerned about government or individual preferences because systems like Lightning exist to bypass preference.
For gold, people and governments absolutely have preferences and exercise them. That’s why American eagles have a premium over Canadian maples (even though Canadian maples have higher gold purity). Assaying gold is a nightmare and most people won’t trust a gold bar from China. Gold is barely fungible in practical terms.
Likewise, I may have a preference for $2 USD bills or classic Eisenhower dollar coins. Just because I have this preference doesn’t really mean that dollars are less fungible, just that I’ve put a premium on some forms of it.
This is inevitable to any asset that is not 100% obfuscated like monero, but I don’t think the value proposition of removing this ability to have format/source preferences is worth the trade-offs of a purely anonymous monetary system.
And, even anonymous systems like monero can be subject to preference overrides. A government could say that the only legal monero is accompanied by a Keybase.io signature linking your identity to the transaction…
And, even anonymous systems like monero can be subject to preference overrides. A government could say that the only legal monero is accompanied by a Keybase.io signature linking your identity to the transaction…
That's why white market crypto usage makes little sense. Using a permissionless money (Bitcoin/Monero/etc) in a permissioned way defeats the entire purpose. And regulations/requirements on the white market are pretty much garunteed to become more onerous over time.
Bitcoin/Monero is inherently black market money.
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It's not an issue of preference. American Eagles and Maple Leafs are coins. You pay a premium for design- if they look pretty. The ugliest looking once ounce Krugerrand and a beautiful Eagle are the same value when melted down. You're discussing jewelry premium.
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They are physically not the same when melted down. The melt value of an American eagle is lower than the melt value of a maple because eagles are watered down (American Eagles contain 91.67% gold, 3% silver, and 5.33% copper, whereas a Canadian maple is 99.99% pure gold)—and yet somehow the manipulated gold market values the eagles higher.
Beauty is an arbitrary construct. My point is that anyone can think anything is more desirable and that can’t be fixed even with anonymous assets.
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I assume that the difference has something to do with increased confidence in the provenance of the thing, or the enthusiasm with which counterfeits are pursued, etc.
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An ounce of gold = an ounce of gold, like 1 btc = 1 btc. That's the real money calculation.
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I’d say that an ounce of gold is one ounce of gold minus assay and storage fees, but sure :)
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If we keep this up I'm going to download a wasabi wallet. I had better take a breath!
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