Look who showed up .. the most unethical and pathetic crypto-dev in the entire history. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be ... erm.. developing for Monero? Just for background info. "smooth" and "smoothie" and distinct. My bad. I hereby apologise to smoothie for the atrocious insult I bestowed upon him. No worries. No offense taken.  |
|
|
|
Look who showed up .. the most unethical and pathetic crypto-dev in the entire history. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be ... erm.. developing for Monero? Oh yeah, I forgot... there is no development in Monero, my sincerest apologies. Who said I'm a dev? Assume much? |
|
|
|
yep it is paid trolls, the relentless ignorance kind of gives them away....
but thread bump after thread bump all thanks to the incentivized trolls, all good
no one is paying me. But if there is someone that pays to post in this thread please send me their contact information. Thanks |
|
|
|
link: http://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/bitcoin-development/thread/CAMkFLsSwKEiEtV1OaAsGPiU8iAWbb77fDNJDmRwbgKnZ_kjG6Q%40mail.gmail.com/#msg31793072[Bitcoin-development] Looking for GREAT C++ developer for exciting opportunity in bitcoin space
From: Evan Duffield <eduffield82@gm...> - 2013-12-29 18:53:27
Attachments: Message as HTML
Hello,
We’re a startup looking for 1 or 2 really good C++ programmer that is
familiar with the bitcoin internals to help with a for-profit startup.
We will be able to provide more information about the project after signing
a non-compete/non-disclosure agreement. Our coin will be one of the truly
unique coins that are not just a clone of the original Bitcoin code. In
short the project will be a merge-mined altcoin that will provide a very
useful service to the whole crypto-coin ecosystem.
If you have added any features to Bitcoin or related technologies this is a
definite bonus. Please include information about the work you’re done in
the space.
We have detailed plans on how to implement it and the roles we are looking
to fill. If interested please email eduffield82@... with a
description of your work experience and we’ll vett the applications and
share our plans to see if you’re interested.
Thanks,
Evan & Kyle
Hawk Financial Group, LLC RESPONSES:Re: [Bitcoin-development] Looking for GREAT C++ developer for exciting opportunity in bitcoin space
From: Matt Corallo <bitcoin-list@bl...> - 2013-12-29 19:28:06
Attachments: Message as HTML
I'm not sure where you got the idea that Bitcoin-development was ideal for hiring scamcoin developers, but it's not. Most of the people on this list are smart enough to realize posts like this are dumb ideas backed by greedy "entrepreneurs" who don't understand the system they're trying to improve 99.9% of the time.
Re: [Bitcoin-development] Looking for GREAT C++ developer for exciting opportunity in bitcoin space From: Peter Todd <pete@pe...> - 2013-12-30 23:23:06 Attachments: signature.asc On Sun, Dec 29, 2013 at 11:53:19AM -0700, Evan Duffield wrote: > Hello, > > We’re a startup looking for 1 or 2 really good C++ programmer that is > familiar with the bitcoin internals to help with a for-profit startup. > > We will be able to provide more information about the project after signing > a non-compete/non-disclosure agreement. Our coin will be one of the truly > unique coins that are not just a clone of the original Bitcoin code. In > short the project will be a merge-mined altcoin that will provide a very > useful service to the whole crypto-coin ecosystem. I would strongly suggest that if you have not done so already you hire someone competent to do an analysis of whether or not your idea makes sense at all; that you are using merge-mining is a red-flag because without majority, or at least near-majority, hashing power an attacker can 51% attack your altcoin at negligible cost by re-using existing hashing power. If you are starting a timestamping service that may be an exception, but how to turn a profit doing so is non-obvious. I would offer that consulting myself, but it would likely be a conflict of interest with my employers. I'd be happy to speak informally in private, but am explicitly unwilling to agree to any non-compete/non-disclosure terms. -- 'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org 000000000000000f9102d27cfd61ea9e8bb324593593ca3ce6ba53153ff251b3 Re: [Bitcoin-development] Looking for GREAT C++ developer for exciting opportunity in bitcoin space
From: Troy Benjegerdes <hozer@ho...> - 2014-01-03 05:11:37
Evan & Kyle,
I have a very unique and one-of-a kind offer for you. I will buy your company
from the revenue generated from my AGPLv3 copyright licensed Minco.me(c)
cryptographic currency, which will revolutionize work by ensuring that anyone
with a Mincome(C) address doesn't need to work.
Ask yourself.. why would someone who can write a cryptocurrency want to *work*
for you, to get paid with... money.. that they can just ...
** write code that makes them money **
Please be aware that any concept(s) that I have publicly discussed, or that
we may or may not have talked about if I would have signed a non-enforceable
non-compete agreement are COPYRIGHT 2013,2014 Troy Benjegerdes, and that I
would advise you seek competent legal council to ensure that this email, or
any other contact we may or may not have had does not contaminate your
business model with a viral copyright license.
To everyone else on this list, I'm sorry, I just could not resist feeding
the VC/marketing trolls.
-- Troy, 'da hozer'
|
|
|
|
https://dashdot.io/alpha/?page_id=118Q: What do you mean by “The lower emission rate caused by the instamine benefits all involved in the currency?”
Evan Duffield:“The emission rate is the amount of coins that’s currently being generated by the network. Before the block 4500 bug, we were generating nearly 2M coins per day. That is excessive and would have destroyed the coin in no time, so intervening was absolutely necessary. If I had not intervened, the project would surely be dead.
The counter-intuitive part is that because of the high emission rate early on, our coin was distributed to more people faster than it would have been otherwise. Because of the lower inflation rates (compares to other distribution models), we have a better environment for investment. This is good for everyone involved in Dash.“ Translation of bolded part: "Coins were distributed faster to a early few for a lot less cost and time because of the 'bug'."
|
|
|
|
If people start trying to blacklist coins I will do everything in my power to stop them and I suggest everyone else do the same because blacklisting would harm bitcoin beyond anything we've seen so far.
That would help your peers or people you are in communication with. But not everyone. You can't stop black listing. It's kind of in the gray area. I isn't in full force but it isn't something you can just squish (unless we are talking major bitcoin protocol code changes). You can fight it by boycotting any service that uses or supports blacklisting coins. That much is within your power. Yes, but in a limited space (ecosystem wise) currently, boycotting any business that is a major player in the space does limit your ability and others to transact with bitcoin. You basically take those businesses off of your list to do deals with. Essentially limiting your options even more. Hopefully this wont be a wide spread problem. As if it gains traction I can see boycotting being irrelevant especially if most large BTC businesses start implementing blacklists. |
|
|
|
I wasn't aware of that. I assume that only goes one level deep. In other words, if I have stolen coins (.5 BTC) and normal coins (.5 BTC)
and I send that to another address of mine, and then send you 1 BTC, you can't separate out the stolen coins from the normal coins.
that is true indeed. You can separate them until the two are spent together, since they are separate outputs as explained in the last few posts. Once they are spent together, they can't be separated. What I expect will likely happen in a system with widespread regulation and blacklist once they are mixed (spent) together is that you would then have to send the 1.0 to some government (or other third party service) address, along with your identifying information, and you would get the 0.5 clean back. This is a pretty good thing to know especially if a thief tries to taint your bitcoins with small micro amounts. If you send it to an exchange where it combines the tainted coins with your bitcoins then now the coins are indistinguishable. I can see a mechanism that payment processors may (with a grain of salt type of "may") just take the portion that is tainted and send it off to a government wallet and the rest would be "all clear" to use. But there are so many levels of this topic that I'm unsure what the implications would be. Too many unknowns |
|
|
|
If people start trying to blacklist coins I will do everything in my power to stop them and I suggest everyone else do the same because blacklisting would harm bitcoin beyond anything we've seen so far.
That would help your peers or people you are in communication with. But not everyone. You can't stop black listing. It's kind of in the gray area. I isn't in full force but it isn't something you can just squish (unless we are talking major bitcoin protocol code changes). |
|
|
|
I think that the block halving event might be interesting for 2016. I really would like to see how the block halving will affect mining operators and bitcoin price.
My prediction: Price will increase in the 3-6 months prior to the halving... and will then drop some and level off at a higher level than today. |
|
|
|
The bear market has lasted long enough. I predict 2016 is the year where bitcoin finally breaks through, both in price and in mainstream adoption.
The fork issue is a distraction. It won't kill bitcoin. The majority will eventually choose what fork they want to use, whether it is the original, or XT, or some third option.
I see the fork issue as silly infighting which only hurts bitcoin. I want bitcoin to succeed, that's what I care about, not what version of BTC I use. I will go with the majority, whichever fork is chosen.
I think you could be right. The reason is that I think major central bank currencies could go through a major crisis over the next 2 years and people will look to preserve their wealth in other ways. They will want gold, silver, things like this, but also some will gravitate toward bitcoin. More adoption means more supply. This prediction is maximally interesting (even it is fatalist and this kind of things happen very rarely or never). I am curious to know the facts that made you to write this sentence. Could you please show me the resources when are you based to write this? Are rare events which have to do with our and our's family everyday life and deserve very attention. Thanks!  Agreed. If there is a financial collapse bitcoin will benefit from it. But I still see bitcoin's fungibility problem as glaring along with the current war on cash going on globally. Bitpay just announced they are blacklisting certain bitcoin addresses to allow payment from. |
|
|
|
|
Fat Tay Choon went to the Mining Academy in Brazil, east of Satoshi's yurt, where Gavin was kidnapped by the CIA's goons and forced to pretend fucking an anonymous decentralized biscuit—better than all the fish in the Pacific Ocean—but also to defray leeches intelligently with ECDSA fighting qubits for 16.8 dree12, or Phinnaeus must fling toilets towards psy‐ops, without potato smoothies mixed with fried chicken wings from BitMunchies.com, urbanchickennj.com, and Popeye's Bitcoin wallet, which deleted Satoshi's premine ability to cheer very victoriously, none like Butterfly Labs better enabled, but also Pirate crashing AIR applications without the express use of interest-free scams, conspiring with fraudulent sockpuppets and PPTs and..., you troll-herding piece of Shiitake mushroom, go lick Goat's horns until Theymos admits to having a quite erotic fetish involving honey badgers wearing thongs composed of soggy burlap waffles dangling from cosmic linoleum-based iphones running quantum chips explodes spewing deadly acid! b!z screamed out "Light is bright like...like... stars." When Markjamrobin opens the isolated window, he sees three pigs together in bed. Kouye and myself laugh when chinese food falls the impact kills Obama Bin ladin whoever thinks he may be terrorist, is correct but hates the bitcoin logo. Earth has snakes. Currently, the other species have decimated to tiny groups called "marko solo" whatever time it all comes and ends? However, Bitcoin's acidity level dipped causing catastrophic double-spends!
Meanwhile, AntiOps was confused by the awkward change to his penis melting uncontrollably. Vanilla Ice perfume spritzed onto cheese and greasy slime covered with babies boiled in a smelly old heatsink. But it tasted like shit therefore it poisoned his blood although he did survive. Reproductive organisms attacked the internal testicle which caused terrible congestion somehow. Evolution then terminated the smelly old business thank the inability of AntiOps to lock Satoshi's thread. In a transactional forum there was a debate about hacking unprotected accounts, however the debate shortly ended.
Phinnaeus Gage, king pluto, duke of the people. Returned one of his loans that he fraudulently claimed without declaring intentionally. Although this was bullshit. Earth was hit by a meteor which cause catastrophic events which cause people to cause mass destruction by proxy voting it was documented recently on the news that oranges are disguised anti-gravity pockets which have giant bears attacked Zeus because bitcoin accidentally crashed to Mars which created spaceships and aliens who pretended being humans wearing hats on their toes.
Altcoin suck on apples and oranges too. Megacoin is the most shit sucker of apples and melons ever. Most people love to troll others. Evolution is a slow process which created forks. It is beneficial to wash your feet because it distributes bacteria and oil, notwithstanding the beneficial attributes which are how chocolate arouses some of the miners brains. Today was an abysmal event which caused many abnormal but not smart bitcoiners because many of them are cute animals who were insane because of excessive oreo consumption. One watermelon is not love how people try me explotation Maybe Heisenberg Breaking bad control guy director or masturbation my time vampire drinks urine not lemon tek and water supernatural.
LEALANA is fat looking because pizza is sour with pickles which are sexy and never rot. So many people eat pizza it's unbelievable. The news said that pizza is bought mainly with anchovies which results in big wet weather which had massive gusts of wind with pouring milk down on everyones throat because it feels great! Although honey is very sweet taste it makes when it is served hot it melts softly but slowly.
The universe is populated with many planets which were destroyed by pirateat40. Cyborgs then warped to the zoo and ate mushroom with a aerospace technician. Bitcoin has used a lot resources from peoples although people smell like melons.
Ipods suck. Androids rule. Altcoins also suck peanuts. Bitcoin is the greatest idea that has ever been created by man although litecoin sucks? Once upon a time Gandalf went to wal-mart to dry her hair. Minecraft is the best game in universe because chickens cluck. 231134421 is one crazy big ass monkey. What is with people posting replies still. Terraria is a crazy game which requires extreme concentration. This can result in health cubes; Parentheses are a pain in the brain. This noodle is disgusting. Although spaceships cry waterfalls they are magical little elves. Golden towns is very annoying and smell like bacon. Celebrities are awesome and smart. But, evolution taught us that butterflys are ugly.
Vitamin D is important to scam Taras and raise taxes which would cause the world to go crazy but not insane. Obama is the president now. Alot of gamers will illustrate sony that nintendo is leading the infiltration of Iran. Microsoft Windows was salivating pedophiles of the coastal farts. Yet the banana shrank. What was doge poo doing under the bridge with bridge cleaner? He was just he's aren't because something something different like seems incorrect, because we fucked. Yet prunes prunes are very bad lad's yet unknown to fuckers SWEARING. Banana monkey is not virgin-horse. Corn.
This disappoints satan more than satoshi because he ate hydrochloric pools and he fucked whores who are sick shemales shemales shemales BANGCOCK! God smited non-believers with dicks on a stick. They shat together sitting upside-down flicking birdies. Baezl'bub slept with Hitler inside a bomb ticking furiously and hodling. That was awesome. Bitmit made belt so that walruses can shit on his dick and eat mushroom full of wonderful shit, he HODL'd BTCs and Dogecoin with a succubus sperm from first blowjob stories.
Nefarious words spoken shit at bitcointalk and destroyed uranus with a big-ass Spaceship mouth that eats goats flying shuttle that revolves expressly and quietly to hell. Gamma flux destroyed Litecoin with a barracks producing Atreides shit and Kadafi. Same Binladen puppet goxed clients sucking lollipops shaped like mixed frapuccino lids. Goku start this fight prematurely in Odessa Klondike's yard. Winter is not shitty. Gooches. Seven. Humanity sold pubes to Zeus. Nevertheless, Cinnamon was crying. Millennium breakdown caused diversification methheads cardinally. Hyper-inflation, epidemics with marshmallows made by government chodes and yeah. The End. No. Yes. Lies. Stop. Can. Do aliens have any bitcoins? No. Instead, PPC acts quickly like FTL shit, riffraff toys.
Miracles happen like cannibals spitting sinew and elephants which innocent love and shit has never fucked up! Dank has killed bysexuals... wait, when did Karpeles said/say McDonald's sucks? Colonel Tom sex-machine The 3.14159265358th must fook anything that goes into a section. Beaware of spellcheckers. Fantômas portuguese are sobriquet of Fernão who called them Coads-nigs! They say we are azoth, biblical tittynopes who can't mine the janiceps'. He biblically took Rosenzweig and ended this game. And then wanked, wanked clitoris next door. This was done. Moreover, crack was rapidly dephosphorylated due to complications anhidrotically, metaphorically whores go mooooooooo and ahhhhhhhhhhhhh while jon snow watch has ended this thread for good.
Not... Actually, maybe futuristically, Vod (MIA) sailing CASASCIUS up Padma Lakshmi's waxed butt and... Nevermind, but acknowledging that Gavin held security. This marks, categorically, that will create scientific controvertist of global heliolatry problems indistinguishably noticeable filipino heritage, unbeknownst to Slenderman XT phenomena. GLEB sucked smoothie's brains using juicy zombies, dicks, Popsicles, and alien vaginas to rotten flesh of Vod. Meanwhile, giant marsupials are having suicidal sex appeal for four tentacles, watching child whoopee. Therefore, vegetables are unpretentiously super[...]docious. Fruits are rotten potatoes, avouchment vouched x10 malware because aliens kidnapped JarJar, mercilessly LeFodorliar and Gleb Gamow lived days along seashore, Theymos abused his Authoritah by forcing a purple pill To Fly! Serendipitously, awsome! Then I started UFOing on their ass, savagely. But, it is impeccable to realize I farted psychedelic asparagus smoothies. However, Mexico is shit and... Rephrase that, corporations syria declared terrorists irreproachable because malevolence misappropriates monetary suffrage suggesting termination.
Meanwhile, yogurt spill has begun to fall onto houses and cars, hawkishly attempting to grab two crayons, inserting phallic Popsicles® into Theymos' abysm until... POOP! The excruciating pain took aeons to appreciate plethoric folliculitis silvestris poop generator. Why nidificate the indigenous spirit called "erection"? Prepossessingly, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis a discomfortable endoplasmic tumescent pineapple tree branch rectally QuickSeller escrow. Involution, presumptuously titin pop up inconsiderately - Tuesday - when pokemon (Pokémon)'s Pikachu flashbacked borders dementia caused horrendous pain inside Agumon's PocketPussy™.
Daft Punk punked Dank with pussy heavy hookah shot whilst levitating abroad oceans blue that fadedly waved the unseen quote yet cited. Unjust superexcrescences excuses me because of Neotox produced such force by Poseidon's Trident of Taured. Now, albeit-albeit DARKCOIN-SCAMCOIN but tried to interlock coins out of your anal cavity filled lordly exponentially with bold pumpkins wiggling back to school days yesterday morning. Onomatopoeias ate language. Rigveda inside coupons collectively jumped over the "Core Mission". Pussies annihilate doge.
Pythons and anacondas don't squirt unless you got into buns coin phlegm on their tongues. Why did GLEB touch my vault extravagantly? I galumphed after midnight parade on my horse
|
|
|
|
|
Problem with selling trusted accounts is someone is going to likely get scammed.
|
|
|
|
For privacy, I use blockchain.info's SharedCoin (a type of mixer) to avoid linking my BTC spends/transfers to my main wallet. Has there been any indication that using a service like that could prevent a company from being willing to transact with you?
Of course, if the answer is no, this brings to mind a question like: why wouldn't a person with BTC from an undesirable source just use a mixer?
1. There is risk sending your bitcoins to be mixed. 2. I guess they can do it. Ultimately it doesn't remove the trail of where the bitcoins go. Yes the thief may get away with it but someone will be possibly blacklisted with their coins should those coins be coming form an undesirable source. what have never understand about mixing: it seems mixing needs a constant flow of "white" bitcoins to mix with. where do they come from? why does anyone sending their clean coins there and pay a fee for mix them with tainted ones? I believe there are some users that just dont know any better and they send their clean coins to a mixer thinking "hey I can be more anonymous with my purchases"...and then get dirty coins instead. |
|
|
|
For privacy, I use blockchain.info's SharedCoin (a type of mixer) to avoid linking my BTC spends/transfers to my main wallet. Has there been any indication that using a service like that could prevent a company from being willing to transact with you?
Of course, if the answer is no, this brings to mind a question like: why wouldn't a person with BTC from an undesirable source just use a mixer?
Mixers are ultimately poor workarounds. You are trusting that the mixer service is not keeping logs. It's a centralized measure. It requires trust, it's not a real solution. Also it's annoying as hell that everytime you use Bitcoin you have to first send it to some mixing service to guarantee privacy. Something needs to be done about this so this privacy is by default in-built in every wallet without needing to trust some mixing company. Agreed. I think focus should be put on FUNGIBILITY of bitcoin and not block size increase. |
|
|
|
Pretend a well-known thief was committed via bitcoins to the tune of millions of dollars (I know, it's a stretch, but let's pretend nonetheless). The crime was reported to authorities, thus anybody having direct information pertaining to the crime but fails to report their findings would, in fact, be committing a crime themselves. Follow me so far?
Enter BitPay.
Tainted coins were presented to BitPay (read: I present to you evidence of a very bad crime), but they turn the customer away (read: Thanks, but we don't want no part of this). At this point, BitPay is privy to evidence related to a major heist. It's bad enough if they just let the entity go with a "Thanks, but no thanks!" as per their new public stance on the taint issue, but they now would put their very existence in jeopardy if they opted to not report the evidence to the proper authorities themselves. But, if they do report each and every suspected instance to the authorities, as they must, that would 100% be badder for them and Bitcoin, the latter self-explanatory, while the former would consist of doling out resources so to not be in foul with authorities spanning the globe (not just in the US). Demanding resources that BitPay has demonstrated they no longer have.
BitPay just announced to the world that they would not accept tainted coinage. Genius! Now that they have demonstrated to authorities that they possess the means to help track criminals, they've put themselves in positions to 100% having to follow through with each and every suspected transaction by not only rejecting the coins, but turning in the suspects sans letting them know that that's the case, for you don't tell suspects that they're goin' be reported. YOU JUST DO IT!
And that's how you destroy your venerable brand in ONLY a few short days. Again, GENIUS!
I suspect there will come a day that a regulated payment processor will be required to send the tainted coins to a government wallet. If you are lucky, you can claim your coins back when you provide identity information and the source of the coins if you are unlucky, the government will put you in jail and you loose your coins. But then people might not like that and stop using payment processors and just deal directly in Bitcoin. Once a critical mass is reached, people won't need to convert to fiat as much. But until then (probably years away)....the issue remains. |
|
|
|
For privacy, I use blockchain.info's SharedCoin (a type of mixer) to avoid linking my BTC spends/transfers to my main wallet. Has there been any indication that using a service like that could prevent a company from being willing to transact with you?
Of course, if the answer is no, this brings to mind a question like: why wouldn't a person with BTC from an undesirable source just use a mixer?
1. There is risk sending your bitcoins to be mixed. 2. I guess they can do it. Ultimately it doesn't remove the trail of where the bitcoins go. Yes the thief may get away with it but someone will be possibly blacklisted with their coins should those coins be coming form an undesirable source. |
|
|
|
...
You might not have a choice.
What are you going to do if I'm a criminal and decide to "taint" your Bitcoin by sending bits to your wallet? Sell your bitcoins?
It would actually make economic sense for a criminal holding a large amount of tainted Bitcoins to do just that with a portion of the tainted Bitcoins. "now everyone is a criminal!" lol Well my perspective is that the idea will be to "follow the money"...Just because A THIEF sent $0.0000001 worth of BTC to your address probably doesn't mean much.. But if I sent 10 BTC or 50BTC or 10000 BTC then it gets more interesting. That threshold of relevance will be determined by our overlords lol |
|
|
|
Everyone's spent outputs combined with everyone's spent outputs? Not all the time.
LIke I said in the OP there will come a day when a new user will buy bitcoins (say locally for cash) and when he goes to use them at a business or exchange or where ever they will be rejected. Not 100% of the time...but it will happen and we all know how the media today loves to jump on anything bitcoin related that is negative.
Please reference the OP as it was a prediction and just that.
Ok, I'll grant you that, but is it really a big deal if it outputs aren't combined "all the time"? The people that have the "hottest" Bitcoins are obviously going to go to the most trouble to mix and detaint them...and they do that already not because of blacklisting, but because they need to remain anonymous and stay out of jail for theft. It's not about ANONIMITY, it's about FUNGIBILITY You can try to be (somewhat) anonymous on the BTC network, but that doesn't mean the coins are fungible Ask yourself... If you earn a legal income in BTC, will you voluntarily mix your coin with criminals? if bitcoin is not fungible, then it is not money, it is as simple as this BTW, marshals sold tainted bitcoin from silk road and someone (silicon valley VCs, etc) bought them. I don't think that this bitcoin is tainted anymore de facto, but if you look at these coins history, it would look pretty bad, right? If bitcoin IS money, then it cannot be at fault what someone did with it any more than you cannot control what someone did with a $20 bill. The Feds selling SR bitcoins for them means they can do what they want. They can "wash clean these bitcoins because we are so holy in the bitcoin space"....that they were sold as a legitimate purchase. In their eyes because they seized those coins because of illegal drug sales etc, by doing just that, now everyone knows those coins are coming from an official authority which by default "makes them clean". Yeah I know it's hypocrisy at its finest. |
|
|
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/374ss5/the_problem_with_bitcoin_that_everyone_seems_to/My thesis is that the transparent nature of the Bitcoin Blockchain leads us to the path of (nasty) government regulation.
This won't be some long theoretical opinion about technical Bitcoin flaws, I will provide you with some clear practical examples. People who love to have extensive government regulation, please move on and ignore this post.
What is exactly problematic about a transparent blockchain? Well, every UTXO has a history. This means mainly 2 things:
1) people who receive a transaction can see this history
2) miners who put transactions into blocks can see this history
Let me be clear. The issue we are talking about here isn't anonymity, it's fungibility.
You can try to hide your coins as much as you want, if you tried to mix your coins using a mixer, coinjoin or another type of "anonymity enhancing feature", we will at least be able to detect that you did. We maybe won't know who you are, but those coins can be flagged as "possible suspicious activity on the blockchain".
So what's the big deal about that? Well, this gives governments the possibility to regulate BTC transactions. Let me explain: Basically it comes down to these 2 possible scenario's: blacklisting and whitelisting
Government could on one hand through “whitelisting” obligate bitcoin users to identify themselves when they purchase bitcoins (this is already happening: KYC and AML) and ask them to whom they are transferring these bitcoins (Coinbase is already asking this for some transactions).
In the future this could lead to a situation in which only “identified” bitcoins would be spendable at regulated payment processors. Every business that accepts bitcoin in a certain jurisdiction would need to use a certified payment processors that only accepts "whitelisted" coins.
As a result, your anonymous bitcoins would only be spendable if you match them to your identity through a regulated authority (exchange, wallet service or directly through government). If you try to spend other coins, the payment processor could send them back you you (best case) or send them to a government wallet (worst case) and maybe you can claim the coins after you identify yourself (at least you have your coins back...)
A more aggressive approach is “blacklisting”. This is a system whereby the government makes it illegal to process certain blacklisted UTXO's.
Of course you would say that no miner would comply... But think about it. Would a large mining farm operator risk going to jail for "money laundering" or will he comply? After all, he has electricity bills to pay. The profit will be more important than the ideology.
This kind of regulation leads to a loss of fungibility. Bitcoin isn't fungible anymore if one bitcoin is accepted for payment or isn't mined anymore and another isn't.
If you are thinking that i'm exaggerating because there are a lot of jurisdictions and there will always be places where there will not be this strict regulation, you are right.
But it gets worse...
Not only governments but even companies will start to apply regulation by themselves as a form of self-censorship, because they fear government crackdown on their business:
We already saw the "whitelisting version" with the deposit of the Evolution coins to BTC-e. Those coins weren't allowed by an exchange that is pretty anonymous themselves! The reason is that they don't want the CIA and Europol on their doorstep, so they decided not to accepts possible money laundering activity.
And what about the blacklisting by the miners? I'm sure there will be ideologically motivated miners that will keep processing blacklisted UTXO's.
But there are far less pools than there are individual miners. The regulation will slowly affect this. I see a 5 stage system:
A. there will be some pools that voluntarily adopt the regulations, because they fear government crackdown (same situation as BTC-e with the Evolution coins)
B. some miners fear the government, so they ask their pool operators if they will comply with the regulations. If not, they move to a "regulated pool". It will slowly become a disadvantage for pool operators to not comply. If one uses mixed bitcoins, the transactions will start to suffer from delays because of less miners processing them.
C. the regulation will become more harsh. Building on a block that contains blacklisted transactions will become illegal. This will lead to more pools censoring themselves because they fear they will loose the block reward if they don't comply
D. the "illigal block depth" will become larger (f.e. not building on a chain which 3 blocks "deep" had a blacklisted transaction; more pools start to comply
E. almost everybody now complies and blacklisted UTXO's won't be spendable unless they pass through a regulation authority.
In essence this could lead to three kinds of bitcoins:
1. White bitcoins: bitcoins that satisfy the identification regulation.
2. Grey bitcoins: bitcoins that are not yet identified, but which are not actively anonymized. transactions are allowed, but not spending them at a certified payment processor.
3. Black bitcoins: bitcoins that are banned by miners. Processiing them is illegal. Maybe even owning them...
The consequence?
Bitcoin will not be fungible anymore: you can’t just use a grey or black bitcoin to buy something from a webshop. If the government is able to discover that you possess black bitcoins or process blacklisted type transactions, you could even be seen as a someone committing a crime.
Eventually Bitcoin will become a fast payment system without counterparty risk but with full government control.
Is that what we really want?
And if you think these are all unlikely scenario's then well... we will talk again in 5 year's time.
|
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
