2013-06-05 Politics of Bitcoin Mixing Services

[erono]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/06/05/the-politics-of-bitcoin-mixing-services/

[matonis]

did he get his account back or is this the hacker?

Account has been back for over a week. Also, proud to be utilizing two-factor auth for tweets (new Twitter service).
I'm interested in how people view current bitcoin dev priorities around privacy.

For instance, see:
"Mixing without a trusted intermediary is already supported by bitcoin" (via J. Garzik) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=139581.0
(this seems like it would prevent simple analysis, but not smart analysis)

Zerocoin has too much overhead (could be optimized); "lower hanging privacy fruit, at the moment, would be getting rid of address re-use and de/refragmenting coins" (via M. Hearn) https://plus.google.com/u/0/100109831949151899859/posts/Kq6JAxBXS8d

[oakpacific]

I think we should be able to opt into being anon.

Some people use the block chain as a proof of assets such as AsicMiner. If you forced them to be anon we would have to trust them more.

I highly trust AsicMiner, but just used them as an example. The blackchain can be an awesome accounting system and some of use use it.

Your link to Zerocoin was very interesting and the first I had heard about it.


Glad you got your account back.

Ideally, we should have a multi-tier system, with options for complete paranoid and joe sixpack all available. The status quo is that most of the funding goes toward the joe sixpack end of the spectrum.

[oakpacific]

I do not think it is that hard to "wash" BTC if you really wanted to.

What many people do is sell BTC for LTC, then later use LTC to buy back BTC.

There are other options as well.

It needs to be able to be resistant to government-grade analysis, big data and stuff like that. But I agree that zerocoin is not a good idea.

[oakpacific]

I do not think it is that hard to "wash" BTC if you really wanted to.

What many people do is sell BTC for LTC, then later use LTC to buy back BTC.

There are other options as well.

It needs to be able to be resistant to government-grade analysis, big data and stuff like that. But I agree that zerocoin is not a good idea.

Then we should make a "Zerocoin alt" just for mixing. Set up the service on Tor.

Problem solved?

I think there are other proposals which are better, after all, if you leave the Bitcoin blockchain, you lose the confidence that is brought by the decentralization and infrastructure of the network.(If I were to "launder" my BTCs, I would not use any alt-chain, other than possibly LTC)