Satoshi answered this in the white paper and it's still true. Privacy for Bitcoin isn't solved IN Bitcoin. Don't lose hope. The solution is coming.
Discussion
He did but I disagree the privacy depends on not revealing your identity to your UTXO. Since almost all UTXOs are now tied to identity through KYC there is no privacy left, it is all full traceable with Chainanalysis.
Being a public blockchain is a very good property for money. Revealing and linking your addresses is not. The right way to do privacy is cutting that link.
How you cut the link can also become problematic. It also doesn’t prevent you from future leaks that can be traced backwards. It’s extremely difficult even if you do everything right to maintain privacy on a public ledger.
Currently, yeah, it's way harder than it should be, but that's still the right place to do it. We just need to keep building the tech. Privacy CAN be coordinated around Bitcoin and we should build the things that make it work well.
What is the solution that you speak of?
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OK, this is gonna take me some time 66 page white paper. Can you give me the short summary?
It's self-organizing encrypted networks that emerge from self-sovereign IDs, built in HD keys rooted in your seed and privacy preserving stem to stern.
The intro is not that long and is a summary. Details are there if you want to dig deeper.