Careful with BTC -> XMR ->BTC swaps for obfuscation. Many caveats, trivial to trace if not done correctly, and not recommended unless you know what you're doing. If you do, this will help a lot:
1) Wait at least a day before swapping back into btc, but the longer the better. [to resist timing attacks]
2) Do not send the same amount back into btc in one go. Break it up into chunks. DO NOT consolidate after. [to resist amount analysis]
3) For the first swap (btc -> xmr) do on exchange A, for the second swap (xmr -> btc) do on exchange B. [prevents single exchange from seeing both swaps]
4) Do all this behind tor/i2p or at least a good VPN (mullvad, ivpn, safingIO spn). Change your tor identity or vpn server for each swap.
Recommend:
BTC -> XMR -> Spend XMR
Or even:
BTC -> Coinjoining -> Spend BTC
Yes agree, it is possible, and if bip 300 goes thru I'm sure will happen. But it will have it's own unique trade offs that won't be the same as Monero's (both good and bad).
Not trying to be contentious, but Bitcoin can't be private it's a public blockchain viewable by the world. Only psuedonymous (user unknown, actions known) if bought and transacting p2p/NoKYC.
You can coinjoin to make your actions probabilistic, but that is obfuscation, not privacy (all information is known, data is "muddied", but not hidden). Similar to leaking metadata. Can be saved and potentially used with future data to deanonymize the user or deobfuscate the data.
Less messy version without urls, my bad...
Open source wallets:
-monerujo (Android only)
-stackwallet (Bitcoin/Monero only version available - Android, iOS)
-cakewallet (Monero only version available - Desktop, Android, iOS)
-featherwallet (Desktop only)
-getmonero(dot)org (Desktop only)
Fiat -> Monero:
-localmonero (noKYC)
-kraken (KYC)
BTC -> Monero:
-bisq
-trocador
-unstoppableswap
-kycnot(dot)me
Buy Monero gift cards for almost anything:
-coincards
Spend Monero directly:
-monerica
-moneromarket(dot)io
-kycnot(dot)me
...and Darknet Markets!
Open source wallets:
https://www.monerujo.io/ (Android only)
https://stackwallet.com/ (Bitcoin/Monero only version available - Android, iOS)
https://cakewallet.com/ (Monero only version available - Desktop, Android, iOS)
https://featherwallet.org/ (Desktop only)
https://www.getmonero.org/downloads/ (Desktop only)
Fiat -> Monero:
https://localmonero.co/ (noKYC)
https://www.kraken.com/ (KYC)
BTC -> Monero:
Buy Monero gift cards for almost anything:
Spend Monero directly:
https://kycnot.me/services?xmr=on
...and Darknet Markets!
Hope this is useful to you
The time to build adversarially is now, not the moment those conditions surface.
Unless Bitcoin hardforks (wont happen, immutability is a core value prop for btc), privacy enhancements are only possible with crucial tradeoffs that come with higher layers (such as custody, security, or centralization).
Monero is already the #1 privacy coin (network effects often used as a bitcoin maxi argument) it will be next to impossible to dethrone. There will always be a major use case for Monero it just depends on what you prioritize.
There has to be some that don't I'm sure, but I think most do self custody.
My reasoning is most major CEXes don't offer Monero or have already delisted it. And the Monero community has a strong P2P, privacy conscious(using custodially degrades privacy), and no-KYC culture.
Unless Bitcoin gets protocol level privacy (becomes fungible) which is superior and easier to use, with cheap tx fees for L1 (better MoE) Monero will always be useful.
But we both know it wont.
easier and better privacy
fungibility
cheap tx fees
self-custody
~18.2 million. Less than Bitcoin. And will stay that way until around 2040
No, it definitely scales better than bitcoin and is faster (although not truly final settlement, but maybe that's good enough).
The trade-offs to use it are major atm. You either have an easy experience (and lose custody) or sovereign LN usage (and lose UX = less adoption). A smoother experience on LN requires more centralized hubs = less failed payments. Onboarding everyone would also take ~40 years iirc. And many other things...
I have no solution, just pointing out the problems. @Polyd_ and @4moonsettler are trying to solve this with Enigma, Darkpools, etc and make LN less user facing. Validity Rollups? Drivechains? There are many other alternatives. Not sure which if any will win. Maybe LN gets scrapped eventually who knows.
Monero has it's own problems too.
I don't think Muun is a "true" lightning wallet. It swaps onchain iirc.
Phoenix wallet is probably the best UX for LN imo while remaining non custodial and trustless as possible.
Maybe I mistook you for someone else. My bad.
I am not scared of drivechains. If they are really that great, and no major technical differences, at least the same or better UX, I would just use them. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
Seems wild to think most ETH users are going to just drop everything and move over. And that is with best case scenario, no difference between ETH and drivechains. Especially after the animosity between BTC and ETH. It would have to be much better to break network effects.
A lot of people on Nostr are bullish on lighting network (it’s easy to we why - zap zap).
Anyone have thoughts on this or the tweet Paul quotes? #lightning #bitcoin
https://twitter.com/truthcoin/status/1680945838493777921?s=46&t=-mus6KRMCVYiBoT8SMf7iA
Agree 100% with Paul. LN seems dead in the water (How many years has it been?) UX is terrible, trade-offs are pretty bad too. Maybe ARK, ENIGMA, RGB or some other L2 like validty rollups will be better. But atm have little hope for LN, much less so for sovereign LN usage.
You guys make it seems so simple as if there are no major tradeoffs to drivechains.
Proselytizing all the time too about network effects...until they apply to other already well established coins.
Yes, I'm aware of lightning. UX so terrible ~90% usage is on custodial, closed source wallets. Something like 0.02% of total Bitcoin usage after 8 years. Very different security tradeoffs as well. It is far from the panacea that was sold. Big blockers were right it seems.
The more Bitcoin is used, the more demand, the higher the tx fees. And once it is all mined tx fees will have to be insanely higher to make up for it. It is the exact opposite of what you want for a MoE. Bitcoin acts more like a commodity than anything.
Well the mining is a big part of decentralization that's why I mentioned it.
Theoretically, if all developers and maintainers colluded, sure, they could. But how likely is that? And isn't that the point of open source/FOSS? Transparency/verifiability/many eyes on the project being it's defense?
What would happen with something so egregious and nefarious is it would be forked by the community. Just like Monero was forked away from shady dealings of Bitmonero in it's infancy.
If you are still not convinced, don't hodl Monero, just use it. Continue saving with Bitcoin. Best of both worlds.
Maybe best SoV so far, but not the best MoE.
The more it is adopted the poorer you get the mroe often you use it (ridiculous tx fees especially in the future), and it isn't fungible or private.
Both node counts are comparable. Monero mining I would say is even more decentralized since you it can run on any general purpose CPU that almost everyone has available.