Crypto Lunch 002 - Is Cryptocurrency Actually Private and Decentralized?
Crypto is a relatively-new currency type and digital payment method, offering the user enhanced privacy and decentralization over conventional means like swiping a microchipped card, or tapping a mobile device. For a decade, cryptos have been making inroads and gaining acceptance, and I've chronicled their progress with interest. But are they really as private and decentralized as they're cracked up to be?
Personally, I've always greatly valued privacy and decentralization, paying for everything with cash, even as doing so has been made harder and harder, as we push toward a fully cashless society. I made the decision long ago not to use a smart device, and instead have a PC and wired internet connection, as well as a land line phone. Additionally, I've long been a student of monetary theory. So the emergence of crypto in 2011 piqued my interest in a way that nothing else had for some time. And as I detailed in last week's post, I'm looking into putting crypto into regular use in my daily life. But I encountered a problem.
There's currently NO way to convert Bitcoin to cash without identifying oneself.
Now, I don't require payment methods I use to keep me perfectly anonymous, but if a cryptocurrency offers no more (and often, less) privacy than fiat currency, what makes it a crypto? And why would I want to use it?
I set out last week to begin the process of making a living as a content-creator, something I've been doing for free for 15+ years. My plan is to scale up my crypto income, and find a way to - privately - spend it on things I need, starting with lunch.
How can it be done?
I have a Bitcoin wallet, but there's nobody near me selling meals directly for Bitcoin.
The Steem and Hive blockchains allow me to potentially earn cryptos and tokens for posting my original content, and curating that of others. I have the mechanisms in place to transfer and convert into Bitcoin, by far the most used and accepted of the cryptocurrencies.
But that still doesn't get me lunch.
Several shops within walking distance of my house accept debt and credit cards in exchange for groceries and produce, which I can prepare into a delicious lunch. A few of these shops also accept fiat cash. Unfortunately, none accept Bitcoin yet.
I need a way to convert my Bitcoin into fiat cash, spend my balance with a debit card that converts to digital fiat, or use it to buy a prepaid credit card. THEN I can buy the groceries and prepare the lunch.
It seems that at least one of these routes should be possible, but my research - and appeals to the community - have thus far found nothing that respects privacy.
I can easily convert between currencies, and I can buy and sell various precious metals, and as long as I don't go over $3000 at a time, I remain anonymous. But as soon as I want to include cryptocurrency in my life, I have to give up my privacy, and use the centralized entities I'm trying to move away from?
At minimum, crypto MUST be able to function WITHOUT identifying the user, and without involving governments, corporations, or banks.
I'm one of the world's billions of unbanked humans, many of whom also don't have recent government-issued ID. Currently, we use the local fiat cash to get things we need we can't produce ourselves. As governments everywhere move to eliminate cash forever, most of these 2 billion will be forced to accept whatever digital fiat replacement is offered, since they don't have the ID or bank account to use cryptos.
I believe this is one of the main issues preventing mass adoption of cryptocurrency, and I think it needs to be acknowledged and solved ASAP!
Where does that leave Crypto Lunch?
I'm not eating a crypto lunch quite yet, but we're no further behind than we were! We've defined exactly what we need to complete the chain from Bitcoin to sandwich, and getting more eyes on the problem. Maybe somebody with a keen mind who sees this will know of a product or service that will do what we need, or open up options. Maybe something is being worked on right now, or just being launched?
Until then, we'll continue to gather cryptos toward the lunch, and seek help from within the community.
Lunch Budget
Last week's Hive post brought in $5.29 ($2.68 for the author). This was paid out as 5.613 HIVE and 1.339 HBD (which was converted into HIVE). The Steem post brought in $0.32 for the author, paid out as 1.442 STEEM and 0.29 SBD, converted into STEEM.
BTC: 0
HIVE: 11.226
STEEM: 2.878
CAD: 0
USD: 0
Thank you to those who pitched in with an upvote!
How to make Crypto Lunch happen
All you need to do is follow along, enjoy the weekly adventure. But hopefully readers and curators will provide some crypto, to make the whole process happen! Here are a few ways to do that:
- upvote this post (on both chains if possible)
- send HIVE or HBD directly to my Hive wallet
- send STEEM or SBD directly to my Steem wallet
- send BTC directly (1NWGEhWfeg4kscoBUFNqzRT1UN7qjLgnVa)
- use a service like TipU
- send any kind of tokens to my Hive-Engine or Steem-Engine accounts
You can also help by offering information/advice!
Some help spreading awareness of the project would be very appreciated, because it will lead to more eyes on the problem, more crypto to buy lunch ingredients with, and more people learning how to make crypto part of everyday life. That's good for us all.
Thank you for reading and participating! There's no such thing as a free lunch, so I hope the crypto community feels I've earned one with this post. :) And hopefully there's plenty more to come!
While we're waiting for lunch, here's an appetizer of fresh salty french-fries...
Two things happened when I discovered Bitcoin.
1.) I was talked out of buying enough that would have bought me my own island today.
2.) I realized there is not a better way currently to track and trace peoples transactions than implementation of blockchain crypto assets.
I know there are ways to "wash" it, but invariably this would be a illegal action under a crypto economy based system. Monero would likely be outlawed (and probably is in some places if I were to gander a guess.)
Yeah, makes sense. But if they make privacy illegal, people who want privacy will just get it illegally. I think that's already the point of cryptos, they don't need permission from anyone. Just a way to transfer data, and people willing to use them. As long as the internet is up (and maybe even if it isn't) cryptos will be possible, no matter what people with funny hats say.