Just dropped a new blog post for Foundation walking through the why, the how, and the what of reusable payment codes (or "stealth addresses") on Bitcoin:
https://foundationdevices.com/2023/02/making-sense-of-stealth-addresses/
Things have gotten a bit confusing between PayNyms, Silent Payments, and Private Payments dropping over the past year, so this post attempts to explain all three and compare and contrast, plus point out how to use PayNyms today.
Welcome any feedback!
Awesome
Oh snap I can quote now.
This is a good topic that leaves some people confused. Thanks for the write up!
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Brah, you ended up getting hired by foundation?
Bitcoin maxi, farming Monero bros for engagement 🤝
Still a huge fan and user of Monero, but have always kept up with Bitcoin and seen it's value.
Had something of a renaissance in my view of Bitcoin that made me realize it was worth my focus, and Foundation is an incredible place to be able to focus full-time on the things I love - accessible Bitcoin usage, privacy, and self-sovereignty for everyone.
Yeah?
Id love to hear the Renaissance view?
Might end up fucking around & changing your name to,
Seth for Prosperity 🤑
Main points are:
1) Most people will come into cryptocurrency through Bitcoin
2) Bitcoin has "good enough" privacy in some cases, and can be drastically improved still
3) Bitcoin's network effect mean that my work on Bitcoin can have an outsized impact compared to Monero
4) Monero doesn't need what I can do as much anymore, lots of other's have taken up the mantle
5) If no one sticks around in Bitcoin to push for non-custodial/private usage, that will die and Bitcoin will be a Panopticonic nightmare for the world, so I can keep doing my part to push against the tide of "adoption", KYC, and custodial wallets etc.
6) Lightning shows a lot of promise of non-custodial usage + privacy improves, all of which is possible and most needed solutions have already been proposed
No part of me coming back to Bitcoin is profit-related, purely trying to figure out how I can do the most impact for good with my time around here.
Makes sense,
Things get clearer over time & working for self custody is what we need.
Cheers 🤙.
Excellent summary Seth, glad you took this path. I learned a lot from you about Monero and benefited greatly. Re: Bitcoin, Points 2 and 5 specifically were very important to me personally and for us as a business. Pushed us to increase our focus on Bitcoin (shifting from earlier XMR priority) and coming up with projects to contribute + going to meetups/conferences to learn and build relationships. The upside is tremendous, failure is catastrophic given the potential, and there is a lot each of us can do to contribute.
Glad to hear it!
I definitely agree, while I think XMR *support* is vital, I don't think you as a business can ignore Bitcoin support because of it.
Biggest thing for me is just ensuring as many merchants as possible allow the optionality of Monero payments as preserving privacy with Monero is still *so* much simpler than Bitcoin/LN today.
In an ideal world Monero doesn't have to exist long-term because Bitcoin's privacy tooling and self-custody solutions improve enough!
Rational reasoning. You are doing great work for both btc and xmr mate!
