Privacy

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What People Think Privacy/Security Is (lemmynsfw.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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OC by @[email protected]

I know there are plenty of software missing from here. This is just a fun infographic I made, no need to take it seriously :)

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (9 children)

Somebody please tell me what's up with Monero. I thought it was some kinda cryptocurrency? In what way does it avoid or mitigate any of the overwhelming number of problems those inherently have?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Here's a laundry list, since you didn't specify which concerns you have:

unprofitable to mine in farms, so fewer environmental issues
creates a ton of fake transactions to screw with the public ledger to protect your privacy
variable sized blocks, which keeps fees low and reduces transaction time
pretty stable, so pump isn't really a thing
not as popular as bitcoin or Ethereum, so traditional scams to steal your coins aren't as successful (also attracts more sophisticated users)
less of a target for speculation, so the currency is reasonably stable

There are some downsides of course:

due to privacy features, it's attractive to criminals, so many countries block direct transactions with fiat (need to trade some other crypto for it)
to maximize privacy, it's strongly recommended to use your own node (boy required though), which can raise the barrier to entry
it's even harder to find vendors that accept it vs other cryptocurrencies

Monero does seem to be the best cash replacement though, since it preserves most of the privacy-relevant features of cash.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is actually really helpful, thanks!!

My general impression for a while has been that there is a genuine need for what crypto claims (but fails) to do. It sounds like Monero is, while very imperfect, sort of like the closest thing we have?

I keep seeing a lot of orgs support it that I would've expected better from, on the crypto front, so I guess this explains why.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago

crypto claims

Well, that depends on what claims you're interested in.

Monero solves the problem of replacing cash while preserving all of the anonymity of cash. Transactions are reasonably fast, fees are low, etc.

Bitcoin is a terrible currency IMO, and isn't much better as a store of value because:

transaction fees are high - due to finite block size and frequency
it's a huge target for speculation as the largest cryptocurrency
transactions are slow (see first bullet point)

The problem Bitcoin is trying to solve is transparency of transactions, putting huge emphasis on the public ledger. That's always going to be at odds with a currency, where most people don't want their transactions tracked.

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