How come so few Silk Road market place vendors were arrested if it decreased privacy? Many people on the SR were just everyday users. I don't think the argument that it's a step down in privacy is valid at all.
It's completely possible to remain anonymous with btc, but a big enough pain in the ass that only people who are committing crimes will do it. Everyone else will at some point link their identity to their wallet and all of their transaction and transaction amounts are then public record.
Yes, but the option is there. How does one protect their identity with a credit card transaction? The argument that BTC is not private doesn't seem to hold up.
I guess we could go through a challenge. You set up a Stripe page or some such thing and someone else can set up a BTC wallet. I will spend a dollar with my CC on your Stripe site and I will spend a dollar equivalent to that BTC wallet.
Then I will make two other secret transactions with the CC and the BTC wallet. You can each then try to identify the targets and the sums spent in the secret transactions.
Whoever identifies gets some sum of money from the other. I'm happy to escrow for you.
