How many BTC users actually care about privacy?

[thirdprize]

If you are going to use a big exchange in the future then you will need KYC.  The only other way to get BTC will be on the black market.  Would that put you off?

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[mk4]

Re: How many BTC users actually care about privacy?

A very very small minority. Chances are, the majority don't even care about security(or are just totally ignorant) either. Hence why a lot of people still has their funds on Coinbase/Binance/etc.

The only other way to get BTC will be on the black market.  Would that put you off?

Depends what you mean with black market specifically. Peer-to-peer exchanges such as HodlHodl[1], LocalCryptos[2], and Bisq[3] should be totally fine.

[1] https://hodlhodl.com/
[2] https://localcryptos.com/
[3] https://bisq.network/

[Kittygalore]

Probably the first people that have stumbled upon bitcoin in the first place, the rest are either here for the profit or have learned to value privacy along the way. Not to worry, they will all care when their interests are being threatened.

[ranochigo]

You cannot regulate Bitcoin to that extent. Governments don't have and will not have an iron grip on Bitcoin. It is possible to be pseudonymous with Bitcoin because it is so hard to shut down and regulate every mixers out there. They are either out of reach of their jurisdiction or won't even have to comply with court orders.

P2P exchange won't die, because that is not illegal. Making it illegal is just unconstitutional.

[Dhaniii]

If you are going to use a big exchange in the future then you will need KYC.  The only other way to get BTC will be on the black market.  Would that put you off?

not everyone cares about their privacy, in every hope they will verify their account with KYC especially regarding the use of their funds. many people do not realize that they have entered a dangerous realm and easily steal their data assets because they arbitrarily verify personal data in every activity, both websites and cryptocurrency platforms.

[aoluain]

Probably the first people that have stumbled upon bitcoin in the first place, the rest are either here for the profit or have learned to value privacy along the way. Not to worry, they will all care when their interests are being threatened.

Correct, a lot of the time we "learn the hard way" when something is taken
unlawfully from us we then act and teach ourselves about security and privacy
when this should be to the forefront of our thoughts.

Its a lazy thing, we need a password for everything online in regards to our
personal posessions, e-mail, data storage, banking etc. but so many of us
let our hardware [smartphone's, PC's] take care of that.

So many people are oblivious to the fact that there are so many attacks on
privacy and security happening every second of every day globally.

https://techjury.net/blog/how-many-cyber-attacks-per-day/#gref

Here is some general info from the link above which should make everyone
contemplate their privacy and security more.

* Globally, 30,000 websites are hacked daily.
* 64% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one form of a cyber attack.
* There were 20M breached records in March 2021.
* In 2020, ransomware cases grew by 150%.
* Email is responsible for around 94% of all malware.
* Every 39 seconds, there is a new attack somewhere on the web.
* An average of around 24,000 malicious mobile apps are blocked daily on the internet

[The Cryptovator]

If you ask me then only 5% of Bitcoin users care about privacy. Nowadays it's become impossible to use reputed and Big centralized exchange. So privacy is already exposed when you are using one of them who required KYC. If you go to trade P2P then there are liquidity and fees issues. More concern you will not find your desired trading pair. Only holders could prevent their privacy who aren't related with any centralized exchange.

We don't have a choice.  Avoiding centralized exchange means we will face many issues during buy and sell our cryptocurrency. Even do we care about our wallet privacy? Those wallets have been using could trace our IP address if you aren't using VPN or Tor. Even we want to keep our privacy but sometimes we are hopeless. It's too much hassle for a few people dealing with Bitcoin without centralized exchange.

[Saidasun]

Probably the first people that have stumbled upon bitcoin in the first place, the rest are either here for the profit or have learned to value privacy along the way. Not to worry, they will all care when their interests are being threatened.

By the time they realize that their interests are threatened they would have already used the exchanges and services that have gathered their information and sold it on. The amount of information that people are willing to give to companies just because they have been legally registered and are obliged by law to collect your data is crazy when there are alternatives like P2P exchanges out there. Yes you might pay a little more at these P2P exchanges but I think that is a small cost compared to giving away your data to companies that you do not know what they are doing with your data.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Not to worry, they will all care when their interests are being threatened.

I doubt it. Coinbase admitted they were selling their customers' data to third parties and they employ a bunch of people who built surveillance systems for dictators and were complicit in torture and other human rights abuse around the world. The result? Literally nothing happened and they continue to be one of the biggest exchanges in the world. Binance have been hacked for thousands of users data and their response was "Well, it was one of our third parties and not us, so its not our fault." The result? Literally nothing happened and they continue to be one of the biggest exchanges in the world.

People don't care when there is money involved. They will give up any amount of personal freedoms or liberties for the opportunity to earn $2 of some shitcoin!

It's too much hassle for a few people dealing with Bitcoin without centralized exchange.

Depends what you mean by a hassle. I would view giving away my KYC information and spending the rest of my life having to be extra vigilant regarding identity theft and my information being used against me, to gain access to my accounts, to open credit in my name, etc., far more of hassle than using a peer to peer exchange.

[eaLiTy]

If you are going to use a big exchange in the future then you will need KYC.  The only other way to get BTC will be on the black market.  Would that put you off?

The early days everyone was able to trade freely without much restrictions. It is inevitable that the authorities will force all the centralized exchanges to follow AML rules and force everyone to provide KYC to continue trading and it is a tricky proposition. Personally I will be using centralized exchanges to covert my coins to fiat as long as DEX will be having enough liquidity to trade and i am hoping we will be able to trade with DEX without much restrictions.

[V-t.Ester]

No doubt, a lot of traders don’t care about privacy  but they shouldn't have. Some of them don’t want to bother, another are newbies that don’t think about  it, others are too honest and trust in security of the market. However phishing attacks and customer data leaks are the reality of today’s life.
- Famous phishing attacks https://www.thesslstore.com/blog/the-dirty-dozen-the-12-most-costly-phishing-attack-examples/
- Ledger customer data leak https://www.cityam.com/ledger-customers-exposed-as-personal-data-is-leaked/#:~:text=The%20names%2C%20email%20addresses%2C%20home,wallet%20company's%20e%2Dcommerce%20database.
- Binance customer data leak https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/08/07/binance-customer-data-has-leaked-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont/
- Coinbase data leak https://www.esecurityplanet.com/networks/coinbase-admits-data-leak/
- Pi Network data leak https://cointelegraph.com/news/mobile-crypto-mining-app-possibly-connected-to-personal-data-leak
And these are only some of them.

[oktana]

If there's KYC, I don't like the idea anymore. Satoshi never mentioned in the whitepaper or in any of his posts or emails that we should agree with KYCs. In fact, Bitcoin as a currency is totally against anything that has to do with revealing one's privacy. Take a look at Satoshi whose identity is also hidden to prove the need for privacy. However, many people got into Bitcoin because of making gains and never had the time to think through about the main feature of the currency. I may have done KYC in a few exchanges but this is because some of us were led by investments. Eventually, most of us are now seeing the need for privacy.

[Kusman]

As long as the cryptocurrency exchange that I want to use is credible enough, there is no problem for me to share my private information with them. Exchange score is the most important thing for me. Because there are many scammers in this market. We have to be careful if we don't want to lose our money easily to this kind of people.

[dimonstration]

If there's KYC, I don't like the idea anymore. Satoshi never mentioned in the whitepaper or in any of his posts or emails that we should agree with KYCs. In fact, Bitcoin as a currency is totally against anything that has to do with revealing one's privacy. Take a look at Satoshi whose identity is also hidden to prove the need for privacy. However, many people got into Bitcoin because of making gains and never had the time to think through about the main feature of the currency. I may have done KYC in a few exchanges but this is because some of us were led by investments. Eventually, most of us are now seeing the need for privacy.

Before investors uses bitcoin for sake of privacy, but now due to government stricter implementation on exchanges to avoid AML problems and scam exposures they require many platforms to do KYC, as crypto tends to become more popular the risk of using it in doing illegal and engaging ing money laundering is at high risk so we can’t blame the government, however we should do our part to study what were using and report platforms who are requiring KYC with no valid reasons or seems questionable platform with issues. We can’t get away with KYC but atleast we do it on a legit platform. 

[FinneysTrueVision]

Bitcoin users who care about privacy will just move towards more decentralized options. Before KYC was mandatory I used to use big exchanges like Coinbase and Binance but eventually those were no longer options. Selling BTC for fiat is not the only way of using Bitcoin. If you cannot use exchanges there are still some options for using Bitcoin privately. You can buy anonymous prepaid cards with Moon browser extension, you can buy items from many stores through Bitrefill, and there are also some services which accept Bitcoin directly. I have always been able to find some way to utilize Bitcoin without KYC and I am sure people will continue to design solutions where you are able to preserve some privacy.

[DaveF]

There is a difference between KYC and privacy, and between privacy and PRIVACY

As part of a signature campaign the address I get paid to is public.
It's in a post and on a pubic spreadsheet.
When I get paid I can either spend the BTC, at which point depending on where I spend them you can figure out where they went.
Or I can send them to an exchange, and since most exchanges wallets are known you can trace me as far as there.
But, you can't know if I traded the coins to another crypto, pulled them back out to another BTC address, or if available converted to fiat.

Depending on the exchange, they may know all about me, or have nothing more then an email address.
Obviously, if I am going to fiat they would know more then if I just put the coins in and took them out.

KYC, is an interesting thing, because people think KYC means that you have given up all sorts of info. And you probably have.
But, lets say I buy something on newwegg.com. They will know my shipping address. Or at least the address I shipped it to.
Depending on what I bought, there may or may not be other information leaked. i.e. I bought a cell phone, newegg knows the imei & serial number of the phone they sent to me. As would the cellular provider I use. So, there is a lot of trackability there. Same if I bought any Apple device, they all phone home and require your info to do just about anything.

Where does privacy end, is going to be different for everyone.

KYC, for the most part, depending on how deep you want to go, can be avoided here in the US.
There are states that allow for an anonymous LLC. 3 that I know of are Delaware, Nevada and New Mexico. I think there are more. Many, crypto to fiat platforms are fine with doing business with an anonymous LLC. So you can get it that way too.

Yes, no matter what the government can and will be able to hunt you down if needed. Anybody who thinks otherwise is just being deluded.
But from your fellow bitcoiners they will probably never be able to find you.

So with all that being said, how many users really care about privacy? The answer probably is, what kind of and how much privacy....

-Dave

[MKings]

When people’s privacy is not threatened, most people don’t care about their privacy and think it’s not important. They only care about their own benefits. But the more people’s privacy is revealed, the more thorough the analysis, and the less money is found to be spent, is the time when people lose their independence and are controlled.

[Wexnident]

I'd reckon that it'd be the minority. The world has gone far too deep that most wouldn't actually give a damn about their privacy anymore tbh, not to mention the massive influence of sharing what you bloody do and what you have in social media each day. It's to the point where that if you don't actually share anything, it'd be too odd or something. At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if most of the information that people have is already being held by a majority of third parties.

The only other way to get BTC will be on the black market.  Would that put you off?

Well, p2p exists so I don't think that's an issue really.

[pooya87]

If you are going to use a big exchange in the future then you will need KYC.

If you are using fiat and your bank account to make an exchange for bitcoin then you are already leaving your identity behind no matter what method you are using.

The only other way to get BTC will be on the black market.

Wrong.
P2P markets exist too.

Would that put you off?

The KYC itself when dealing with bank transfer doesn't put me off. Altcoin exchanges dealing purely with cryptocurrencies requiring KYC does.

How many BTC users actually care about privacy?

It depends on which group you are looking at.
The newbies who care about making profit and think bitcoin is a cash cow to make them rich overnight don't care about that many things which includes their privacy.
But those of us who accepted bitcoin as a decentralized currency care a lot about our privacy and we don't really go to exchanges in first place, this is a currency after all and it has to be earned

[magnum1010]

If you are going to use a big exchange in the future then you will need KYC.  The only other way to get BTC will be on the black market.  Would that put you off?

Actually there are different P2P platforms that are not illegal so we can’t name them as black market. There you can exchange fiat to crypto easily without KYC, but usually with bigger commissions than on centralised exchanges. What comes to privacy, I think that there are quite a big number of people who care about it, as I know that there is a big volume on different platforms that let you hide your money (Tornado Cash).