With the announcement of privacy focused company Proton releasing a bitcoin only wallet, privacy advocates and influences are complaining about the choice of bitcoin and no plans for Monero.
I'm curious what stackers think are the negatives of monero. I'm not looking for the maxi take here. No straw men. Lets be fair. Monero as a project has made different choices from bitcoin. There are decisions that were made and different tradeoffs that do make monero more private than bitcoin. That's not really the question. The question is, why are these decisions problems? And what are the problems with monero?
  • The best answers get big zaps.
  • Links to well written comparisons to tradeoffs with bitcoin will also get big zaps from me.
I just have a link to an old and great comment from @mallardshead about Monero, my first bookmark actually.
Monero is nonsense. Here's why... #137862
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somebody send @mallardshead some sats
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Done
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that mallardshead comment is mostly accurate, but i was under the impression that the privacy profile of monero isn't just about delinking your identity to a transaction, but as much about not being able to correlate that transaction to other transactions in the blockchain so as to keep your other activity private from whoever you transact with, and to inhibit their ability to estimate any monero balance you may have.
as for darkweb marketplaces, i find his comment hard to believe (i don't use them so i can't say for sure), and the sanction violations thing is a facet of Bitcoin's transparency on chain, isn't it ? i mean, i would imagine it's harder to create a monero sanctions list in the first place ?
anyway...
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Yea they were wrong even at the time of typing that. The top 5 darknet markets all accept Monero. A couple of those even exclusively accept Monero only.
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Its a double edged sword. The inability to have a sanction list just means the whole blockchain is sanctioned at some point. Pretty much is now.
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This is a really good point.
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Thanks, I started writing some of my thoughts last night. Many align with this comment.
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Good link, thanks.... Now I have a new favorite quote (borrowed from "The Bitcoin Executioner") about separation of money and state: "...Well, FED is a private company..." lol Now, there you have it :-)
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In most real world payments you're operating on the white market, making permissioned transactions, so why use Bitcoin at all? Fiat is better in that case if you're asking permission anyway.
The only real use case Bitcoin has is on darknet markets, a subset of black markets, and that is getting taken over by Monero
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bitcoin is sound money. regardless of white market or dark market. just my opinion...
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @guts 26 Jul
Let's consider a few counterpoints:
"In most real world payments that go to companies, your blockchain's privacy doesn't matter." Privacy isn't just for illicit activities; it's a fundamental right. The argument that privacy doesn't matter for everyday transactions overlooks the importance of financial privacy in a free society. Even legitimate transactions can reveal sensitive information about a person's life, beliefs, and associations.
"On the darkweb, most of the top marketplaces are BITCOIN ONLY... Most sanction violations are in BITCOIN" Regarding criminal usage, it's worth noting that any valuable, transferable asset will inevitably be used by some bad actors. This applies to cash, art, and even Bitcoin. It's not a fair criticism of the technology itself. The prevalence of Bitcoin in these scenarios may be more due to its wider adoption and liquidity rather than its superiority for privacy.
"If its good enough for the criminals who require the most privacy, why isn't it good enough for you?" Bitcoin's transparency, while useful in some contexts, is also a significant drawback for personal finance. Every transaction being traceable means your entire financial history is potentially exposed. Monero solves this issue with its robust privacy features, providing a level of confidentiality that Bitcoin simply cannot match.
"You see, with bitcoin we're trying to separate money from state." The "separation of money from state" argument actually favors Monero. True financial freedom requires not just decentralization, but also privacy. Without privacy, decentralization alone doesn't protect against surveillance or financial censorship. Monero's design inherently provides this separation more effectively than Bitcoin's transparent ledger.
"Don't allow the Monero shills to tell you their anonymity is the key to anything but a low-volume protocol with a chart telling the sad story of a coin that in the most recent bull market couldn't even eclipse its previous high." Monero's price stability could be viewed as a positive attribute for a currency. Wild price swings aren't ideal for day-to-day transactions. The focus on price performance overlooks Monero's utility as a medium of exchange and store of value with privacy features.
"And since it's been dropped by almost every exchange, it literally relies on bitcoin for its liquidity via atomic swaps and DEX's." The fact that some exchanges have delisted Monero due to its strong privacy features could be seen as a testament to its effectiveness, not a drawback. The development of atomic swaps and DEX support actually enhances Monero's resilience and accessibility.
"Lastly, their block subsidy ended so they rolled out a polite sounding scheme called "emissions", where they've removed the fixed coin limit to pay the security budget for mining." Monero's emission schedule is designed to ensure long-term network security, addressing concerns about the sustainability of Bitcoin's model once block rewards diminish significantly. This approach aims to maintain a balance between network security and monetary policy.
"Do you know anybody that saves money in Monero? That accepts it as payment? That has a Monero wallet app on their iPhone?" Adoption takes time, especially for technologies that challenge the status quo. Monero is still relatively young, and its user base is growing among those who prioritize privacy. The lack of widespread adoption doesn't negate its value proposition or potential for future growth.
"Any Monero miners making industrial attachments to energy grids? Any companies like Intel producing mining chips, or companies like Exxon capping gas flares with bitcoin mining rigs?" The lack of industrial mining for Monero is by design, promoting decentralization and resistance to ASIC dominance. This approach aligns with Monero's philosophy of maintaining a more distributed and accessible network, rather than concentrating mining power in the hands of a few large operators.
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In most real world payments that go to companies, your blockchain's privacy doesn't matter.
The point isn't philosophical here. The point they were making was you are already compromised.
A better argument would be that you can interact with a company like Amazon if they accepted Monero by using a PO box service and using an alias. Its not really about a "right" to privacy. That stands regardless of money features.
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There are decisions that were made and different tradeoffs that do make monero more private than bitcoin. That's not really the question.
That ought to be the question. Monero's privacy comes from (1) decoy theory -- use ring signatures to blend in with a crowd of possible senders (2) amount encryption (3) stealth addresses -- when you scan a monero address, your wallet modifies it in a way that only the recipient can detect, and you send money to that modified address.
Well guess what? In bitcoin, coinjoins accomplish #1, payjoins accomplish #2, and two things accomplish #3: bip47 and, more recently, bip352. So what privacy tools does monero have that bitcoin doesn't? Moreover, bitcoin has lots of tools built out for coinswaps. They are super easy to do now thanks to lightning.
If you have a KYC'd coin (coin A) you can swap it for an un-KYC'd coin (coin B) via this four step process: (1) buy a channel from any LSP (2) use any submarine swap service to send coin A onto lightning (3) receive an equivalent amount ("coin B") in your new LSP channel (4) close that channel. Boom, you've swapped coin A for coin B and nothing on the blockchain shows their relationship. Try to do that on monero.
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i'd imagine monero users would consider most of that as extra steps - they have a meme, 'just use monero' to that end - not advocating, not a monero user, but in a way i can see their point.
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I want to make a bitcoin wallet that automatically does all of this stuff for the user. <insert_name_here> wallet. Then we can reply to their meme with "Just use <insert_name_here> wallet."
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i'm not sure how useful un-kyc ing coins is - i mean, once you've announced you've got it, you can't make others un know you got it - maybe making no kyc easier and more prevalent is the more effective way ? or earning rather than buying, i suppose...
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Monero folks seem to focus on tax avoidance I think. If that is the goal you are correct. You can't un-kyc bitcoin in that way. Here's the real problem I think super is getting at. Linking your transaction history with a party you have a transaction with. Unlinking yourself and maintaining more privacy in the bitcoin eco system / blockchain. Correct me if I am wrong there.
I think one of the best arguments a monero person has is that even without KYC if someone has poor bitcoin Opsec they are exposing info to someone they transact. Thing is, this all comes down to better wallets that use best practices and make it hard to have bad Opsec.
I think the big issue I have with monero is getting the cart ahead of the horse with privacy.
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yeah good point about the unlinking aspect - hadn't considered that
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Re: "un-KYC-ing" coins, if your reason for doing that is "I don't want to be in a database at a big company like Coinbase," I suspect it actually DOES help. If the coins you bought from Coinbase never move then they can confidently say you still have them. If you "un-KYC" them then you did move them and their database will have to reflect that your KYC'd addresses are empty now. That's not nothing. You might still be in the database, but now there's at least implicitly a question mark by the addresses they associate with you. They know they "once" had coins but any future reports they make about your holdings must reflect that all the addresses they know you had coins in are empty now.
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That would be beautiful
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I think you are right about the response. The follow up to it is... yeah. Where am I gonna use this monero. We get back to network effect which is the same thing you get from no-coiners. Where do I spend my bitcoin. So we get back to adoption and NGU which like it or not is gonna be what gets people into the network. I always come back to game theory when I think about "privacy coins". I went through a phase of thinking they had a real place. The more I think about it at best their place is temporary and very narrow. As bitcoin grows in adoption they get weaker. Network effects are real. These problems of privacy are not only solvable but most future bitcoiners do not CARE about privacy.
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the monero doesn't scale thing is kind of true but as most people don't care about it, it tempers the growth of the chain to some degree... so it's niche aspect may (or may not) prolong it's presence
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#1 You would have to coinjoin every single transaction which no one does (especially after recent events). That would get expensive fast in time and money. #2 Is a stretch. Payjoins are obfuscation. They don't hide/encrypt amounts. #3 Is weaker on a transparent chain. Counterparties can easily figure out which address they sent to and watch where it goes going forward. Even third parties can most likely figure it out given any two combinations of amount, time, and sender address.
Last part reminds me of this meme
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318 sats \ 4 replies \ @Wumbo 26 Jul
Issues that have some merit:
  • Some people have issues with the trailing emissions. (no max cap).
  • Some people have issues with not being able to verify current supply (not as transparent as BTC. Which helps with privacy)
  • BTC has the first mover advantage and currently has far more hash rate to protect the network.
Issues that are just FUD.
  • "Another shitcoin."
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48 sats \ 3 replies \ @clr 26 Jul
To that I'd add Monero's anti-ASIC stance. Bitcoin is protected by a most of capital investment (mining hardware) that may becomes useless if bitcoin fails. Monero doesn't have such moat as it uses general purpose hardware.
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that may becomes useless if bitcoin fails
I don't get what you mean here? Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment algo means if large mining ops stop mining, because bitcoin fails then CPU mining may again be viable. Its not one or the other. Maybe I misunderstand you.
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55 sats \ 1 reply \ @clr 26 Jul
I mean that because bitcoin miners have to invest capital upfront in buying ASICs they are invested in bitcoin's long-term success. If bitcoin fails and they haven't amortized their investment in hardware, they lose their investment.
Whereas someone mining with their CPU/GPU doesn't care about a specific coin. If the coin they are mining fails, they can simply switch to another coin and keep mining, or even use their GPUs to train AI or whatever.
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Ah, I get you now.
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55 sats \ 0 replies \ @atori 1 Aug
The most common criticism is that there is the possibility of an undetectable inflation bug. There has in fact been a inflation bug in monero, but it was not exploited and patched.
Regarding the possibility of an undetectable inflation bug, it is my understanding that the part of the code that would have to have a bug is very well understood and very closely watched / studied.
If you use monero as a medium of exchange and not a store of value, this is less of a concern imo. Just like I withdraw some cash from my bank to make private purchases you could swap some bitcoin for monero for private payments.
There have been inflation bugs in bitcoin also of course, the latest being in 2018 which was also patched before it was exploited. In 2010 somebody printed 184 billion bitcoin due to a bug and the chain had to be rolled back.
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92 sats \ 1 reply \ @flat24 26 Jul
From what I can understand, many people criticize Monero and others criticize Bitcoin when I think we should accept both as they are, always comparing them in a way to compete against each other, but I think it shouldn't be like that. I think they are two different things. Bitcoin's ability to ensure value in an immutable way and without third parties, and Monero to make money transfers in a more anonymous way, since it is fast, efficient and private. Each one in its corner and each one with its qualities and separate uses. I personally like and use Monero occasionally to make exchanges, and at the level of speculation without this being investment advice or anything like that, just my opinion. Monero is undervalued.
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65 sats \ 0 replies \ @zarko 26 Jul
I agree 100%
My maxi friends hate Monero because "shitcoin". My Monero friends hate bitcoin because of lack of privacy
I use both
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No hardcap. No way to know if inflation bugs exist. Bad logo, bad name = bad marketing. No adoption. Associated mainly with criminals and not with regular hardworking people. Its a shitcoin. The best shitcoin i will give them that, but still a shitcoin.
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I haven't really looked at monero in years but I find their community obnoxious so I don't bother.
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100% there are exceptions but they are like bitcoin bros that are good at repeating talking points but have no depth. They are just good at memes.
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don't play with shit. YOU WILL SMELL LIKE SHIT. It's 2024 and you still ask about moneroshit? That means you still have a lot to learn about bitcoin.
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Like Darth
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @guts 26 Jul
Calling anything "shitcoin" is obnoxious and unprofessional
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That's true
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I have a simple rule: BITCOIN ONLY. ALL THE REST IS GARBAGE.
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Monero exists to remind bitcoin that privacy is important. If bitcoin forgets that, monero will get a bigger slice of the pie, it's that simple. It's privacy without effort/skills, and that's still needed on the bitcoin network.
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I agree with you. This is what free markets achieve. I do think most monero bros underestimate how much bitcoiners value privacy. Bitcoiners seem more pragmatic and less narrowly focused on privacy. We need sovereignty, sound money, and privacy. The first two IMO are much harder than privacy.
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In the end we will see which chain wins. Privacy is important regardless. It is hard to have privacy without wealth and hard to have wealth without privacy.
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Here's a question I have for monero people.
  1. Is monero's goal to become the dominate money used by everyone on the planet? a. If so, how does that happen? What is the game theory / story for how that happens?
  2. If monero's goal is not to become the dominate money what is the goal?
  3. How does monero solve the problem of the state?
Any shitcoin must answer the same objections that bitcoin faces. To me this is forgotten when we start debating the merits of other projects. "Privacy coins" are one of the few shitcoin categories where bitcoin will say... you have a point. We've thought of that. That needs a solution. Or, we have a solution. It just needs adoption.
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55 sats \ 0 replies \ @atori 1 Aug
Monero person here.
  1. No
  2. Private digital payments.
  3. It is a tool, not a total solution.
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55 sats \ 6 replies \ @guts 26 Jul
Not every crypto needs to aim for world domination. Monero's goal isn't necessarily to be the only money everyone uses. It's about giving people a solid option for private transactions when they need it. Like cash in the digital world.
As for the state problem, Monero doesn't claim to "solve" it entirely. It just makes it harder for governments to track and control your finances. That's valuable in itself.
Also calling everything but Bitcoin a "shitcoin" is pretty narrow-minded. Different cryptos can serve different purposes. Monero's privacy features aren't just a point Bitcoin acknowledges, they're a core feature that Bitcoin can't easily replicate without major changes. Sometimes, specialization beats one-size-fits-all.
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You make some valid points but the main issue is that in order to be a valod medium of exchange it needs to be widely accepted. Bitcoin is the closest to achieving this but is a loong way from it still. Due to monero's goals I doubt it will ever achieve this. I wish I was wrong. Time will tell. Almost all 'alt-coins' are some sort of scam. This is why calling them alts is also not good. They aren't. Monero at least seems to have a valid use case. I just don't think it will win in the long run. But I am not here to convince anyone. I wanted to hear arguments against monero. I know why it exists. At least I think I do.
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55 sats \ 4 replies \ @guts 26 Jul
Wide acceptance is not the sole criterion for a cryptocurrency's value. Monero's focus on privacy fulfills a specific and important need in the digital economy. Its success should be measured by how well it serves this purpose, not by competing with Bitcoin for universal adoption.
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Thanks for engaging
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You say that but what most normal people, no coiners ask about any crypto currency is "what can I buy with it?". This is my point. No "crypto" has reached this goal. I know you can buy some things with monero. You can use it peer to peer. Granted, it doesn't have to be dominate but it does need to reach scale to have true utility.
This is why many economists do not consider bitcoin money. It is not a widely accepted medium of exchange. Hasn't been adopted widely yet. Both are very limited in adoption. It is a hard sell today to get businesses to adopt bitcoin. Monero is an even harder sell. You can see that right?
If bitcoin can't achieve wide adoption it will die. Same goes for monero. Then privacy does not matter. For what its worth I don't think there will only be one crypto. There will always be many but one will "win". Monero might survive but I don't see it ever becoming dominate or even achieving wide adoption. Not unless we see a radical change in the values of societies toward privacy. Seems unlikely in my lifetime at least.
My circle is mostly no-coiners and people that do not care about privacy. Many in privacy and monero communities seem to be talking in echo chambers much like bitcoiners do (to be fair). When you talk to the average Joe you get a reality check.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @guts 26 Jul
You're right that adoption is crucial, but you're overlooking a few key points. Monero doesn't need to achieve Bitcoin-level adoption to be successful. It serves a specific niche: those who value financial privacy. This market may be smaller, but it's significant and growing as privacy concerns increase globally.
You mention that your circle doesn't care about privacy, but this is changing. With increasing data breaches and surveillance, privacy is becoming a mainstream concern. Look at the rise of encrypted messaging apps like Signal or SimpleX.
Lastly, the idea that one crypto will "win" is oversimplified. Different cryptocurrencies can coexist, serving different purposes, just like we have various financial instruments today.
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money is a 'winner takes all' yes there will be several, just as people speak different languages.
however the 'elites' for lack of a better word, the educated and those who will learn a common language speak english. at almost any international conference the shared language is english.
bitcoin is the closest to this goal by far... of any cryptocurrency. although there is a long way to go.
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  1. No, the same way it would sound ridiculous if you said a hammers goal was to become a tool for every job.
  2. P2P digital cash
  3. Black markets AKA the only place permissionless transactions exist (There is no reason to use Bitcoin over fiat for white market transactions if you are asking permission to do so anyway)
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The common thread I get from Monero bros that complain about bitcoin is that they undervalue bitcoin's replacing fiat by creating a massive network that is trustless and transparent enough to give people confidence in the supply as well as no tricks.
Its not surprising because most of the world is economically illiterate as well as pro government. Bitcoin's privacy problems are low hanging fruit when you do not consider the bigger benefits and larger goals. Privacy is possible and as the adoption grows will become easier.
One question we should always ask about anything that hopes to gain world wide adoption is what would that look like. I don't hear that from Monero people. Maybe its just because I haven't listened to their best and brightest. Most I run into online are very difficult to communicate with. Worse that your average bitcoiner which is pretty bad.
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I think a large part of the divide between Bitcoin and Monero is that bitcoiners embrace NGU and understand that for something to replace fiat, it needs to be liquid, have volume and a large market cap. I.e. it can't be niche and it has to eventually intersect TradFi and be put on company's balance sheets etc.
Monero bros, on the other hand, focus on privacy, but I've never seen them discuss what money is, what role it plays in the economy, or anything Austrian economics related. I like the idea of ASIC resistance though, with their mining algorithm requiring a CPU, which disincentivizes industrial mining.
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Well said @SpaceHodler. This is the experience I have had. Their scope is to narrow.
With the ASIC resistance though... I do not have the technical knowledge to say for sure but something tells me that what they are doing can be routed around. I very well could be wrong but it sounds like something that could be figured out to me. I'm guessing the only reason it hasn't is due to a very low desire to do so. Which is the real issue for me with Monero. The network seems to small and no way it ever even comes close to bitcoin... so what's the point.
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The network seems to small and no way it ever even comes close to bitcoin
And this is also why we can't see how well it scales for example. Monero people are against L2's and believe the base layer should be enough, but it would take the age and popularity of Bitcoin to test their beliefs empirically. Conveniently for them it may never happen ;)
As for ASIC resistance, here is a video that talks about RandomX, and what approaches to ASIC resistance preceded it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hkd-n1W_e4 TLDR: instructions for a VM are generated randomly, then the miner executes them. So any 'ASIC' would have to be Turing complete, i.e. a full-fledged CPU.
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That's interesting.
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The problem is it's a worthless shitcoin, in the same way that you are a worthless piece of shit human who does not understand the basics of bitcoin, but you're an arrogant fuck looking to mentally masturbate with other faggots -- the correct answer to you is simply an appropriate amount of disgust, that is the HUMAN response, but you are a pseudo-human. I do not dehumanize you, you do it to yourself by choosing to live like a mindless parasite when it is not needed.
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have you taken your meds today?
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Is that supposed to be an insult? You just revealed you are so fiat brained and city brained you think big pharma is the solution to anyone who doesn't follow the official gay narratives you like subscribing to.
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that i am subscribing to... what are you talking about? what does big pharma have to do with monero? Like I said this is a conversation about monero conversation over
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Something is only considered a problem in relation to a goal. I think this is important to stress because if it has a different goal then of course everything it does will look like a problem.
From the Bitcoin perspective a few problems with Monero are: -No fixed supply -Opaque supply -No fixed blocksize -ASIC resistance
From the Monero perspective these same things are: +Future mining security +Privacy, fungibility, and targeted mining censorship resistance +Low transaction fees, more throughput +Decentralized, accessible, and discrete mining
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Monero got delisted on binance, yet look it's thriving better than when it was listed. I think the coin speak well for itself.
Monero will do well with or without bitcoin is my POV. I personally like BTC, but I do love the privacy aspect of Monero. And who cares if Protonmail won't implement it into their platform.
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Just another shitcoin.
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Nobody can audit Monero. That's more than enough.
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The problem with Monero is that it isn't Bitcoin
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💩
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While Monero excels in privacy, it lacks the same network effect as Bitcoin. Bitcoin’s widespread adoption and liquidity make it more accessible for various use cases. Bitcoin: Being the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin enjoys a significant network effect. More people use Bitcoin, which contributes to its overall strength
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The biggest problem is that Monero is not as cool as Bitcoin is. Monero tends to justify a darker environment for better economic development while Bitcoins doing it all in the light of hope!
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That there can be only one.
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Shitcoins are a good "playground" to test things out that we shouldn't do in actual real money. Aggregated signatures was an interesting idea at the time. But we solved all the use cases on L2 in Bitcoin. The playground experiment "Monero" fulfilled its purpose and can now be discarded
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stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.
deleted by author
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