Oddbean

I used to think monero was better than bitcoin for privacy, but now I know monero is not necessary. We can achieve privacy using chaumian e-cash instead of a blockchain. What's more, these e-cash solutions are interoperable with the lightning network. The steel-man argument against this is that chaumian mints require some trust. This is true, but Bitcoin is a peer to peer electronic cash system that requires no trust. We can trutnthst there will never be more than 21 million #bitcoin. Every other blockchain is an attempted breach of that trust, an attempt at debasing bitcoin the same way governments have debased gold by adding other metal to it. That's my two sats. I would rather trust a few thousand sats with an e cash provider than try to debase the p2p electronic cash system that bitcoin is. In the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith talks about the debasement of currencies by governments all around the world. They achieved this by smelting different metals with gold, making each coin contain less and less gold over time. I see all alt coins as an attempt to debase bitcoin, a peer to peer electronic cash system. My node does not accept these debasment coins. I do view stablecoins a little differently however. For example, USDT is a digital representation of the dollar backed by the very financial instrument that is used to debase those dollars. I believe stablecoins are monetizing the debt, which debases fiat. This is not an argument for stablecoins, they're ust a little different.