Privacy on Monero vs Bitcoin with Seth for Privacy - WBD520

Seth for Privacy is a privacy advocate and host of the Opt Out
Podcast. In this interview, we discuss how financial privacy
protects all other rights, the current limitations with Bitcoin’s
privacy, and Monero’s protocol privacy that some Bitcoiners find
beneficial.


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Most people have slowly acquiesced to the undermining of personal
privacy by tech companies. There has been a trade-off: free
access to powerful social media software for the monetisation of
our data. The problem is a false sense of security has been
allowed to fester: there is a material lack of concern that such
transgressions could become more malign and overt abuses of
power.


The wake-up call for many was the treatment of the Candian
truckers. Not many foresaw Bitcoin’s privacy weaknesses being
exploited by a western liberal democratic power led by a young
charismatic leader. But they were exploited. The Canadian
authorities were unrepentant. And there was nothing the truckers
could do. Once your privacy is compromised that’s it.


Whilst it is a wake-up (or should be a wake-up call), Bitcoin’s
fully auditable pseudonymous transaction history presents
significant privacy challenges. That’s not to say that
non-technical users can’t improve their privacy using Bitcoin, or
that privacy concerns always need to be front and centre of
decisions to hold Bitcoin. Rather, there may be another option
under certain circumstances.


Monero is an altcoin that some Bitcoiners are willing to adopt
given its unique out-of-the-box privacy features. It is being
used to complement the use case for Bitcoin. And yet, there is
still toxicity from some quarters towards Monero and those who
advocate for it. Is this healthy? Does Monero deserve to be
treated like other altcoins?


Fundamentally, should Bitcoiners be open to using Monero? Or, do
maximalists who have served the community well express warranted
concerns? What are the tradeoffs being made and how do they
affect users?