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130 sats \ 2 replies \ @And1 19 Jul 2022 \ on: I'm Alex Gladstein. CSO of the Human Rights Foundation. AMA bitcoin
What do you think about Bitcoin's privacy? Would you recommend L2 solutions like Liquid and Lightning for inexperienced users, especially in totalitarian regimes?
I think Bitcoin's privacy is improving. For power users, they can achieve "pretty good privacy" today. But it's far from adequate and is probably all things considered one of its weakest points today.
The main problem is that most Bitcoin users engage with fully KYC'd financial services like exchanges. So even if they do self-custody, their activity is known. Lightning withdrawals and deposits from exchanges is a nice step forward. But while sending privacy in LN is strong, receiving privacy is still not great. So if you withdraw from let's say Kraken they know things about your Lightning activity and ID. Blinded paths, which should be activated in the coming year, will help address this vulnerability.
I'd recommend that Bitcoiners everywhere learn about CoinJoins as well as Lightning but mostly that they learn how to use Bitcoin without KYC. The best way to preserve your privacy is not to link your real-world ID to any Bitcoin in the first place.
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