Bitcoin Q&A: Privacy Experimentation and the Luxury of Laziness
Channel: aantonop
Date: 2019-03-01

Can you give us an update on Schnorr, Taproot, Graftroot, MAST, and script validation? [Note: This summary is from December.]

https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2018-December/016556.html

CORRECTION: While he was quoting Rusty Russell, the post I mentioned at 0:14 was written by another Bitcoin Core contributor, Anthony Towns. 

What are your thoughts on privacy and fungibility in Bitcoin? We shouldn't only want privacy when it is too late. Stagnation in this area may be worse than reckless experimentation. Will people sacrifice privacy for good user experience? There is a difference between George Orwell's and Aldous Huxley's versions of totalitarianism. As long as we have the ability to opt-out, laziness is a luxury you have when they're not shooting at you.

Chapters
0:00 The next Bitcoin protocol update. What is the latest news on Schnorr  signatures, MAST, Graftroot, and Taproot? When could we realistically expect to see these features?
6:58 Related to privacy improvements like confidential transactions, what are your thoughts on that? Regarding privacy and functionality? These kinds of changes can be controversial. Do you think these enhancements are considered detrimental to adoption?
10:30 Considering humans are lazy creatures, in the hypothetical case that cryptocurrency becomes mainstream in the future, do you think people will sacrifice user experience in order to have privacy? Or will they prefer a nice, colorful smartphone app that does everything for them, but also controls them?

These questions are from the December Patreon Q&A session, and the community event at Paseo la Plaza in Buenos Aires, Argentina (https://antonopoulos.com/event/buenos-aires-event/), which took place on December 15th 2018 and January 29th 2019 respectively.

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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.

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Money-collection-Andreas-Antonopoulos/dp/1537000454/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/194791006X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

MASTERING BITCOIN: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042

[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388

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

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