Here I go again with my thought-pieces. 

Gordon thinks a lot, and sometimes talks about himself third person like Bob Dole. Well, not that often actually, but I'm goin' in blind with a lead-in.

Privacy; one of the pillars of cryptocurrency, right? I mean, seriously, what's the point in the cryptography part if keeping information private doesn't matter? So, we like our privacy. But, people are selling a false narrative if they think it is a reality in cryptocurrencies.

The greatest threat to real cryptocurrencies is not hacks, or 51% atttacks, sending to bad addresses, the 'evil' centralized exchanges.

No, the greatest threat to crypto is regulations. The very governments that we wish would get off our backs, already, are the most likely to cause disruption to this growing market. I have long been of the opinion that crypto self-regulates and does so well. People think that coin and exchange exit scams happen all the time, but in comparison to credit fraud and outright thievery in the normal world, the number of sites that go down, coins lost or stolen, is tiny in comparison both in value and number of instances. Big events like Mt. Gox (who in their right minds places all of their economic plan in a dope who makes a billion dollar online market based on Magic the Gathering??? only in crypto) and Cryptopia, Bitconnectttttttt and OneCoin are massive, sweeping fear-mongering events. But, in the midst of a virus, crypto had no alert-halt triggers, and we saw Bitcoin go from $9K to $3800 back up to $7K+, and it had every right to sell-off completely if confidence dropped that low. The stock market crashed 5 times and several days. Sure, it's showing a lot of strong days as well... can't buy a dip without the dip. But, my point being we're still here, crypto is still here, and even tons of coins that have done little to market their own growth are not dead yet... Monty Python intended.

So, we have resilience, and we have great tech, and the worst thefts and scams can't fight off the desire to buy, sell, trade and HODL crypto.

But, don't be fooled into thinking this is a safe haven from government over-reach.

For every idea you have that has you thinking "oh yeah, well what about..." - I gotcha- and you're wrong. It's okay. I want to think the same thing, really I do! It just isn't reality.

People can say, if you don't like geo-bans, use a VPN. You have to realize the reality of reality; technology goes both ways. For every IP that is not your own, there is a black list that can be added to. Even the best performance, highest quality paid VPN's are detectable from exchanges and sites that block. It happens constantly. Using privacy coins is a freedom as easy to lose as "x" government banning privacy coins. You might say "they can't keep me from using them" then I would ask "what is the use in a coin that cannot be used?" Yes, technically it is possible to buy and sell a privacy coin even if it isn't permitted somewhere, but if the idea, the principle, of a class of coin are outlawed, you are going to find it hard to find a platform to buy them on. There will still be platforms, but they won't be the good ones.

You know the whole premise in not your keys, not your coins? Well, the same savvy crowd would prefer to buy crypto only from legit sources, not in a back-alley site so to speak. If a govt. says "we're banning privacy coins", sites like Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, Binance will stop carrying them, or will at least geo-ban their use from certain customers.

So, lemme see if I can beat you to your next thoughts. 

"Yeah, but there's DEX".

You do understand almost all DEX are actually run by 3rd party servers, cloud-based 3rd party platforms, 3rd party tech, and even carry end-to-end fees in many cases, right? There is no such thing as a DEX, just a DEX-like centralized exchange that does not offer support. So, let's say Binance DEX, the website, doesn't allow certain countries right off the top, which is an accurate statement, and they even allude to just using a VPN, which they intentionally allow in case you still want to use their site, and then you could even just connect a compatible wallet (created by same said companies) directly up without going through their site, you understand they do provide the tech platform to connect your offer to a corresponding offer. They do not store the details of your account to the other person's account. You both own the end-chain, and that's good and fine. But, they are providing the platform that connects these two unseen entities, and trust me, all it takes for this kind of DEX to go byebye, is for a global governance to say so. That governance is already in place... has been for decades.

So, then you might simply say you can trade directly with others, and that is true as well. Or hey, even better, just use privacy-coin-of-choice wallet and buy directly there. What, you don't think developers of wallets can be regulated? Of course they can! Have you seen examples of previous-favorite swap platforms and wallets starting to require KYC? You think they are doing it because they think it's a great feature? No, it's because they are sharing your data directly with any government that asks for it. Does that sound like privacy?

So, yeah, let's talk about KYC AML.

Don't know about you, but I don't feel safer when I share my picture, my govt ID, name, Date of birth, handwriting (that thing you have to write and hold up to a selfie). I love the irony for every person who, once approved immediately after this e-strip search, goes and buys their favorite privacy coin. It's more ironic than throwing away an empty box of garbage bags!

KYC is not for your benefit; it is a cop-out for every platform that you want to trust with your crypto activity. Binance let a hacker extortionist have millions of ID's by using a 3rd party that was susceptible to this attack. People complained for, like, 30 seconds before getting right back to trading. How do we know that wasn't your favorite rogue government behind the whole thing? 

So, here's the bottom line; if you control the end-points, or control the ideology that protecting your identity is a good thing, you can make it impossible to access just about anything.

Gonna hit that last thing you're now getting ready to out-smart me with: mixers.

These can be detected. These are already illegal in many countries. These are forbidden by platforms when they are able to detect them.

People can still use them and get away with using them, but the sophistication that allows this option leaves you extremely vulnerable to dishonest platforms from the mixers themselves. Whether it is the mixer, or its code, that knows your start point and provides a final destination where you want it to go, this information can be required to be revealed. Since the mixer provider is in the business of hiding activity, you think they are necessarily going to have your back if forced to open their data or be fined or jailed? Think it won't happen? Then, you are probably under 30 yrs old and have not been taken advantage of by a politician that promised you everything you've ever wanted and your favorite candy, too. Or, maybe you've survived into older years under a bubble of naivety. If someone offers you a means to essentially e-launder money, trust me they can extort, steal, or accidentally oops error your crypto, and it will happen. But yes, this IS an option.

These things all cumulatively may allow you to own the coins you wish for, but unless you just want to make a statement with your purpose, that technically you probably shouldn't tell anyone about, since it is a PRIVACY coin we're talkin' 'bout, here, every time there is a threat to platforms permitting trade, and every time there is fear that someone is taking advantage of customers because they wish to get around rules, there is fear, and the value of these coins will drop. I am NOT saying any of this is happening or will happen, but it has all been discussed, and regulators have this very issue on the desk now already. Some countries are already there.

I am NOT against privacy; I am FOR it, but I am against anyone being under a false impression that crypto is resilient to control from the government. It tracks your purchases better. It tracks your identity at a higher, more public level than your bank. It connects you to publicly recorded details of what you bought, sold, and what fee you paid to get it there, and most of the time the proper forensics makes it easy to trace directly to you. Where this is less true is personally-owned wallets, but the fact you thought of this, means so did all of the regulators, and there are not many valiant individuals making wallets for you to use. If they face jail or penalties, they will throw up the KYC faster than you can say "immutable ledger".

What is the option? I don't know. I'm just talking out loud here. If money were endless, I'd say grab all of your favorite coins as much as you can hoard, and do it while you can. Then, learn to trade top rank coins on a legit exchange... when there is one-lol. Learning to trade is a great way to create value wherever it is permitted.

And on that note, a very private alter ego Gordon Freeman, the free man, for now,

out.