We have seen a lot of posts about Monero for the past days starting with Sigiant running a Monero node last week, yesterday Oasis announced it was going to implement Monero on their market and today AlphaBay followed.
First of all I would like to make clear Monero is a great altcoin, it offers more privacy by default than Bitcoin and of all the altcoins I probably like Monero the most.
So why would a vendor not be interested you might ask yourself?
This has the following 3 reasons.
- Bitcoin already offers enough privacy
It's true that Bitcoin doesn't offer truly anonymous transactions by default. But that's why we invented mixing services and futures like Coinjoin. So Monero doesn't offer anything that we don't already have.
What does it matter to me if I first tumble my coins before I sell them?
Either I accept Monero and than sell my Monero for Bitcoin before I can cash out. Or I just accept Bitcoins and tumble them before I sell them...
It doesn't really make much difference.
And with the upcoming coinshuffle in Mycelium we won't even need mixing services anymore...
So Monero doesn't offer anything I don't already have.
- Price stability
After years of huge price spikes, Bitcoin is finally getting some "stability". Price swings still occur, for example very recently we saw a price drop in Bitcoin all the way from €600 to its current level of €515 which is about a 13% drop. But although 13% might seem like a lot, this is nothing compared to the price swings you see in altcoins like Monero.
I remember Monero a few months ago being worth €1,9 to fall back to €0,90 and than rising back to €1,80 a month or two later. These 50% price swings might be fun to investors but if you are trying to run a business these drops are far from ideal. Not only do the funds I have locked in escrow lose value. I also get much less customers suddenly. Everyone is suddenly waiting to make a purchase just in case the price moves any further.
- It's not easier to use
Is Monero easier to use? Do I safe any time with it?
No...
If I accept Monero I would first have to exchange it for Bitcoin and than cash out my Bitcoins. This isn't any easier than mixing your Bitcoin and than selling them.
So although I am a big fan of Oasis and love the way they keep adding futures to their market.
I personally believe Monero is a little bit hyped. :D
Sorry, but I disagree. Those coinjoin and tumblers and all that shit, it's only a matter of time and computational power before blockchain analysis companies can decipher all that crap. The only solution bitcoin has for true anonymity would be some sort of sidechain solution. But given how freaking slow the core devs in r/bitcoin take to do crap, don't count it happening before blockchain forensics catches up. Remember, your past transactions are forever in that bitcoin blockchain and cannot be permanently obfuscated. There will always be the off chance that someone traces those coins back to you, even with shuffling, coinjoin, and tumblers.
On everything else, I agree. It's price is unstable (currently) and it is not easier to use. But those things will be solved soon...