Bitcoin Q&A: Will Governments Let Privacy Coins Exist?
Channel: aantonop
Date: 2018-11-26

On the benefits and challenges with upcoming privacy improvements to Bitcoin. What do you think about Snowden's comments on privacy in Bitcoin and open public blockchains? What are unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs)? Can you re-anonymise UTXOs from KYC exchanges like Coinbase, by participating in a CoinJoin through wallets such as Wasabi or services such as JoinMarket? Can you use Schnorr signatures do UTXO consolidation? Will governments continue to let privacy coins exist? Will confidential transactions be censored? What will kickstart the evolution towards more privacy and anonymity? Could private transactions be indistinguishable from "normal" transactions? What is the launch schedule for privacy improvements (Schnorr signatures, Taproot, Graftroot)?

CORRECTION: At 6:50, I say that Gregory Maxwell invented CoinJoin. While Maxwell did 'coin' the term, the mechanism of CoinJoin was discussed early on by others: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=12751.msg315793#msg315793

Chapters
0:00 Thoughts on the Edward Snowden interview regarding his comment related to public ledgers being the biggest security flaw in bitcoin?
2:48 Re-anonumising UTXOs
8:29 Schnorr signatures and UTXO consolidation
10:00 You have these privacy coins like Zcash, Monero, Grin, and Beam. What do you think the end state might look like? Will governments let them exist in any form, or will they become extremely heavy-handed given the privacy aspect?
13:55 Won't bitcoin's confidential transactions be censored?

These questions are from 'The Internet of Money' tour in Dublin, the HoshoCon event in Las Vegas, the September and October monthly Patreon Q&A sessions, which took place on May 23rd, October 11th, September 29th and October 27th 2018 respectively. If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

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Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

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MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://amzn.to/2xcdsY9

Translations of MASTERING BITCOIN: https://bitcoinbook.info/translations-of-mastering-bitcoin/

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://amzn.to/2ykmXFs

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://amzn.to/2IIG5BJ

Translations of THE INTERNET OF MONEY:
Spanish, 'Internet del Dinero' (v1) - https://amzn.to/2yoaTTq
French, 'L'internet de l'argent' (v1) - https://www.amazon.fr/Linternet-largent-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/2856083390
Russian, 'Интернет денег' (v1) - https://www.olbuss.ru/catalog/ekonomika-i-biznes/korporativnye-finansy-bankovskoe-delo/internet-deneg
Vietnamese, 'Internet Của Tiền Tệ' (v1) - https://alphabooks.vn/khi-tien-len-mang

MASTERING ETHEREUM (Q4): https://amzn.to/2xdxmlK

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