Monero Talk
Monero Magazine
The Monero Matteo Podcast
Monero adjacent podcasts:
Opt Out w/ Seth For Privacy
The Watchman Privacy Podcast w/ Gabriuel Custodiet
The Crypto Vigilante Podcast
StackCast
https://www.youtube.com/@MoneroTalk
https://www.youtube.com/@moneromatteo6845/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@moneromagazine
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchmanPrivacy
Yes, exactly!
I meant if you want to spend do one or the other for privacy/obfuscation.
-Swap into XMR and use XMR like normal
OR
-Spend your Bitcoin by coinjoining (You can also coinjoin and send to your cold storage to hodl)
Remember that swapping to XMR or coinjoining is *not* a substitute for buying nonKYC. If you bought your BTC with KYC there will always be that record (and that record will inevitably get accidentally leaked, hacked, or given to government. If you are paying attention to these things you know it happens constantly.)
So, ideally do both, buy nonKYC and coinjoin (or swap to XMR)
https://protos.com/crypto-whales-targeted-in-wave-of-home-invasions-near-vancouver/
https://github.com/jlopp/physical-bitcoin-attacks/blob/master/README.md
One of the most anonymous and private messenger apps available atm.
One of the most anonymous and private messenger apps available atm
Agree. SimpleX is superior.
What is your opinion on using Signal with a burner number and setting a pin for that number on Signal? Cope or pretty secure?
Yes, I stack both Monero and Bitcoin. I couldn't tell you an ideal split. It would just be speculation. What I can say for sure is that Bitcoin has proven to be a better longterm SoV (so far).
Because of it's default privacy, simplicity, and very cheap tx fees I find myself mostly using Monero. It's a superior MoE. Too expensive, clunky, and potentially harmful to use Bitcoin all the time especially with coinjoins.
They complement each other well imo.
Glad you find my info useful!
No problem, glad to help if I can. I like to keep it simple. All I use is a software wallet for spending amounts (Liked Monerujo, but enjoying the newer "stackwallet" atm. Great UX imo.) on a phone (GrapheneOS) and also have a seperate cold storage steel plate seed backup of my savings.
These are probably the most popular and recommended software wallets in the community. Theyve come a long way since 2016/2019. All open source:
-monerujo (Android only)
-stackwallet (Bitcoin/Monero only version available - Android, iOS)
-cakewallet (Monero only version available - Desktop, Android, iOS)
-featherwallet (Desktop only)
-monero gui (Desktop only)
Ledger has always been dicey especially with the recent controversy. I think the only hardware wallet recommended right now is Trezor T model. Open source as well.
Alternatively, you can create your own cold storage:
1. Generate a seed offline
2. Generate a subaddress to save somewhere for depositing Monero into later (and/or turning the address into a QR code)
3. Etch the seed on steel plate backups (or steel washers + bolt method).
Optional: You can also use the view key for a watch-only wallet of your cold storage if you like.
If you are familiar with bitcoin SeedSigner there is a fork called "MoneroSigner" being worked on, but no ETA available.
Anonymity (unknown identity) and privacy (unknown actions) are two different concepts. You can be anonymous without privacy, be private without anonymity, or have both.
Bitcoin will never be private without hardforking. It is a public blockchain. You can obfuscate actions with coinjoins, but this is not privacy. All actions are known, and even when done correctly, can be saved and potentially be used with future data and tech to de-obfuscate.
So the most you can hope for on Bitcoin is to be anonymous and obfuscate your actions.
Your anonymity set is not all Bitcoin users either. It is only as large as everyone off CEXes and buying KYC free (small fraction of bitcoiners). Also, how many Bitcoin users coinjoin at all? How many users coinjoin every spend? Not many.
"Monero’s is too small to be appealing from a privacy standpoint, and coinjoins work just fine on Bitcoin"
Darknet Markets, some of the most adversarial testing grounds on the planet, disproportionately increasing adoption of Monero would not agree with you.
The "shell game" part of Monero is only it's ring signatures (sender)
Amounts and reciever don't appear on the blockchain at all.
So in the scenario you correctly guess the true spend out of 15 decoys for a single tx "Hey guys this anonymous user sent $[redacted] to [redacted]"
Much less data and not as exciting as you make it seem. Plans are already under way to implement 128 or 256 decoys with Seraphis and eventually full membership proofs to get rid of rign signatures completely.
Dero tech seems great in theory, but in practice and implementation I'm not sure. I'm not a Dero expert, so correct my ignorance please, but these are the reasons I'm cautious and skeptical of it:
-marketing seems too good to be true and gimmicky
-centralized and targetable entity (Dero Project)
-dev tax/premine
-extremely limited developer community, almost no one is watching the code
-very cutting edge, unresearched, and unproven HE tech
-fixed supply (high future tx fees if adopted, and future mining insecurity)
-links on the website are broken or are pages like this that dont go anywhere (??? is this just a joke about how private it is?)
https://www.derofoundation.org/
https://github.com/deroproject/documentation/blob/master/Dero_Whitepaper.pdf
Not true, you might just not be familiar enough.
Spend Monero directly (Physical goods and digital services):
-monerica (massive merchant directory)
-moneromarket(dot)io
-kycnot(dot)me
...and Darknet Markets!
You can also buy gift cards with Monero, for just about anything, to fill the gaps:
-coincards
It's already being built by tannerdsilva and a few others, but will take time. Nostr is very bitcoin centric atm so it shouldnt be surprising that their is a lag in development from Monero community on Nostr. I think a lot of Monero users appreciate Nostr as a protocol and see it's value.
It's true, in the US at least, not many brick and mortar stores you can go to that accept Monero.
But shipped physical products and digital services online is a different story...I buy coffee, authentic maple syrup, grassfed beef, dairy products, raw honey, books, ammunition, VPN subs, email subs, alias email subs, burner phone number, and more with monero fairly often...
Spend Monero directly:
-monerica (massive merchant directory)
-moneromarket(dot)io
-kycnot(dot)me
...and Darknet Markets!
You can also buy gift cards with Monero, for just about anything, to fill the gaps:
-coincards
While some say all altcoins are shitcoins while shouting Bitcoin only witth their fiat backed DCA mentality, others aren't as narrow minded turning altcoins into Bitcoin.
Like my friend nostr:npub1zsyt45zfh2u28zuhvp66lljp8s6jrwlw7ckvfn34255e7jt37t9qx0xwsm for example and he's doing it very well. Keep stacking those sats bro!
https://ecency.com/hive-155221/@mypathtofire/stacking-sats-on-hive
KYC DCAing and the rare times they use BTC for it's original purpose (digital cash) it is with closed source custodial wallets*
They shout all alts are worthless shitcoins (95% true tbh), but then turn around and want shitcoin utilities built on bitcoin. Funny.
To be clearer, I most recommend: BTC -> XMR -> Spend XMR
If for whatever you don't want to do the above: BTC -> coinjoin -> Spend BTC
My least recommended is: BTC -> XMR -> BTC because there are so many caveats. Even more potential pitfalls than just coinjoining because you are additionally involving a centralized third party, the exchange, with a full view into your swaps.
If you are just hodling, and bought KYC free, none of this is really necessary imo until you decide to move/ start spending your BTC.
Sorry, not clear on your first question, can you rephrase?
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