Author: eric at voskuil.org 2021-03-03 11:55:38
Published on: 2021-03-03T11:55:38+00:00
The email conversation started with a concern about the privacy issues related to Taproot. LORD HIS EXCELLENCY JAMES HRMH expressed his concern about maintaining the existing consensus values and transparency of the blockchain. He emphasized that all transactions should be open to scrutiny by an honest government.However, Eric Voskuil questioned the moral principle behind his argument. Ariel Lorenzo-Luaces also raised concerns about James HRMH's affiliation with a bitcoin mixer which could suggest profit-motivated intentions. James HRMH explained that his concern was not about increased privacy but rather about maintaining consensus values and transparency of the blockchain, so it is possible to see that any Bitcoin has transferred from a UTXO to some Pay-To address without obfuscation. He also clarified his association with the bitcoin mixer and stated that the use of a Bitcoin Mixer is to enable standard equivalent privacy. He argued that an honest person's wallet is available for government audit as are their financial affairs. The discussion then moved onto consensus and the value proposition of Bitcoin. James HRMH stated that the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is because of the existing consensus and that protecting the existing consensus should be the highest value. He also mentioned that BCH exists in addition to BTC Bitcoin because people are free to do what they want. Jeremy Rubin joined the conversation and informed James HRMH that Taproot does not enable monero-like privacy features more than what already exists in Bitcoin today. Rubin suggested that taproot makes transactions with embedded smart contracts less expensive and may marginally improve privacy dependent on user behavior.Such "monero-like" transaction graph obfuscation may already exist in Bitcoin via other techniques (coinjoin, payjoin, coinswap, lightning, etc) with or without Taproot. In conclusion, the email conversation revolved around the privacy issues related to Taproot and the importance of preserving the existing consensus values and transparency of the blockchain. The discussion also touched upon the value proposition of Bitcoin and the importance of consensus.It should be noted that the email address +61261470192 is mentioned in the context, but it is stated that the email does not constitute general advice. The bitcoin-dev mailing list is also mentioned twice, along with its corresponding email address and website link. There is an HTML attachment mentioned at the end of the context, but no further information is provided about it.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T18:24:28.500315+00:00