Current Currency Concerns

I want to talk about my recent experience with monero. I can't comment on a currency that has never been used yet, even though some people will swear to god that they love it and it's better than a decade of BTC use, even though you need BTC to get it, and the fact that only two places (illegal marketplaces) will be accepting it (but haven't yet). My focus on this discussion is the people pushing it.

How many in the community will agree that this stuff is being shilled to death? How many have felt the effects of it's brigade of downvoters? Why does anyone who has a tinge of healthy skeptisism get attacked, downvoted, and have their opinion immediately called fud by supporters of a never before used currency?

I had two legitamate concerns about this brand new, never before used currency that a hundred people (/u/travis-, /u/honestlyimeanreally, /u/protekt0r, /u/avgeca, etc...) have sworn is better than BTC. Just mentioning monero around here will summon the entire platoon of monero circle jerkers to a comment like flies on shit. I ask, who else are these people trying to get on board as hard as they want the DNM community on board? Reddit is filled with other communities, are there any other subs lurked so hard by these people? They will claim that they aren't targeting this community, but who in the fuck else uses DNM's?

The other concern was, what other applications outside of the two markets will monero serve? Because if there are none, getting in on this will only have you sticking out like a sore thumb and have LE looking at you like "fish in a barrel". It's like buying rolling papers at a gas station and trying to convince the clerk that you roll tobacco, they know you're full of shit! I never got a straight answer from any member of the Monero Gang for either question.

I'm not asking who will use it. I'm asking if the community thinks that the Monero Gang is working some sort of angle.

This is a summary of my thoughts on this matter. https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/5071ox/psa_monero_is_easy_to_deanonymize_in_a_handful_of/d720txx Many of you know me around here, I have no agenda other than just hanging out with y'all. I'm here every single day! Why would these dudes not want to discuss this with people like me? Why would they try to discredit me? When have I ever not had this communities best interest at heart?

Whether or not monero is a good or failed currency is up in the air because IT HASN'T BEEN USED YET!!! But the folks pushing it seem to be a little.... desperate?


Comments


[8 Points] stilldogman:

So here's a copy/paste of something that I'd been chatting with others about (MDMAngel has chatted with me a bit on this too, and I value her opinion), so anyone else that would care to chat/bullshit about the subject, feel free to jump in.

Right now, although if you go over to /r/monero/ you will find a link to the small selection of worldwide merchants that accept it for various things, it seems that it has been mainly used as a cover/a safe hiding place for coin (AKA transfer in your bitcoin to conceal it), as well as a trading token. Think about it this way, if you will: bitcoin started out just like that. Very few TRUE uses, a lot of haters, a lot of lovers.

There are some holes in the anonymity currently (there are workarounds for it, but these holes have been addressed and will be made obsolete as soon as RingCT is released, which is very very soon).

The greatest part of this is what can be the true fungibility of it. What I mean by that is this: its blockchain cannot be analyzed to check the "taint" on coins. With the blockchain that bitcoin runs off of, every transaction is recorded forever, and can be followed. Anonymity is becoming a thing of the past with bitcoin at a rapid pace (I do still use it, and bitcoin is STILL a BEAUTIFUL thing to me), and the relative safety of tumblers is not so safe when you look at how many blocks are actually tainted at this point (tainted as in they have hit markets - we're all going to end up mixing together coins with other coins in those mixers that have touched illicit action). It is not unreasonable to think that LE has the power to say that the large miners (which are steadily becoming more and more centralized, i.e. the Chinese companies with HUGE mining power) cannot verify transactions that are correlated with these 'tainted' blocks. This could never happen, but it also could. Cash (paper dollars) are fungible - they can be accepted everywhere, there is no taint (aside from maybe stripper's asshole taint) that makes them not acceptable anywhere. Monero is designed to do THAT.

Here's a good read, if you're interested in getting some pretty decent facts! http://weuse.cash/2016/06/09/btc-xmr-zcash/

Something else that I think is interesting is that one particular developer (I don't have a link handy to his interview right now) spoke about how useless most altcoins are right now (I think he actually might have said ALL, which I disagree with), and that HIS invention could be as much of a failure as anybody else's. I've gotta be AFK momentarily, but I wanted to comment here while I had a chance before logging out.

I do think there is a decent amount of people that are getting a tad too hyped about Monero over here. I respect the excitement that these people have (new things excite me TOO), and I respect not trusting it/thinking it's weaksauce right now (especially since there are current privacy concerns that, although having been addressed/having fixes comig out shortly, are still real-world concerns currently).

I do think it's interesting/odd that multiple markets have jumped on this particular bandwagon, and THAT in itSELF has piqued me interest. I've been watching/playing with Monero for a while now (making money here and there trading), but not nearly a decent fraction as long as I've been fucking with markets over my several accounts over many markets (Silk Road dayz). I respect what I ASSUME is intelligence in some of these market admins that have built what they've built, so I'm like.... "what in particular do they see here that they didn't see elsewhere...?" DASH coin is 'anonymous and safe' and such, although it's not as strong under the hood as what monero will be. Hmmm. I dunno. Just bullshitting here, and curious to hear other people's thoughts as to why it looks good/looks like shit/they want it around/they can't wait till it dies.

Sorry for the rambles.


[6 Points] MDMangel:

Like I said. Like flies on shit, they've come to downvote this post in an effort to censor me. Community!!! Do you really want to trust these people?


[4 Points] GeneralStarkk:

I know nothing about monero other than its a currency. I don't plan on looking into it unless the apocalypse of btc happens tomorrow.


[5 Points] Flakes2011:

Prepare for massive down votes and hate from the monero circle jerk group...


[2 Points] PretttyFly4aWhiteGuy:

Honestly the only reason I'm vocal against it is because its spammed on this sub relentlessly and its just plain aggravating. On one hand they say it "isn't just a dnm coin" but on the other hand its pumped on this "darknetmarket" sub nonstop. At this point and time with the limited acceptance and huge price swings I'll steer clear.


[2 Points] noonehear:

I suppose I am tired of the Monero shills... after all I did make a post regarding the standardization of cryptocurrencies for darknetmarkets.

There have been countless alt-cryptos with different anonymous features. Hell even bitcoin was touted as being anonymous when the mainstream started reporting on it (even the new Vice documentary on darknetmarkets the ignorant host claims numerous times btc is untraceable or anonymous).

All btc needs is a sidechain for anonymous transactions.


[-2 Points] jack19056:

People are trying to cash out on this shitcoin. The developers created this to solve a hyped problem (btc tumbling) and want to cash out huge. Also Alphabay was paid to integrate this shitcoin into their codebase. Its value will be zero as the dump starts.


[-3 Points] None:

It seems like someone took Ops asshole and sprreeeaaddd it real wide, then salted it.