In the last couple of weeks, and especially when Bitcoin is knowing some bearish movements or gets spam-targeted by the Ordinals and Runes, do I see more and more people praising $XMR (and other privacy coins) as well as “Big Block” arguments popping up ( $BCH and $BSV ).

We know $BCH and $BSV are empty boxes in the sense that both never took off as their CEO’s anticipated. The global $BTC community (translated in both Bitcoin Cash and BitcoinSV significant lesser amount of nodes and miners) knew that “big blocks” are both unneeded and even a deterrent for mainstream adoption. Why? Bigger blocks translate into a more heavy chain for storage. More node-synchronization time needed. Quicker hardware replacement which correlates to more expensive mining and node-running on the long term.

The nonsense of “Big block”-argument can be compared to “everyone switching their small city car to a big truck with multiple passenger seats to fix congestion on the road“. It is nonsensical. (The real problem is data-management and efficient use. Not block-space.)

With that said, it would seem that privacy coins can tout to truly be “the better option in regards to privacy”. It must be said, if you TRULY want anonymous transactions that are untraceable, $XMR is your fix. … but it does not mean that it is the superior currency. As a matter of fact, the heightened privacy creates a certain imbalance in regards to security.

When we talk Bitcoin and currency, a subtle equilibrium of privacy and transparency is needed. Privacy, and associated “being uncensorable”, to safeguard your own wealth. Transparency in order to create trust. Trust with the network and each individual participant.

To understand the flaw of privacy coins like Monero, Zcash, WOWNero and others has to do with “trust in each individual participant”.

Bitcoin is pseudonymous as it allows for addresses and network participants to be flagged as untrustworthy. After all, people prefer NOT to send their hard-earned $BTC to scammers, frauds and pyramid-schemes. The ability to flag transactions as “suspicious”, to flag addresses as “fraudulent” enables an additional security for the network participants. Through research (transaction history) can they ascertain themselves of not having to deal with a possible scammer. Of not having to deal with a fraudulent salesperson who takes money and doesn’t deliver the goods or services.

Monero, ZCash, WOWNERO and others make the transactions untraceable. Meaning that each time you pay with these Crypto, you are making a leap of faith that the receiver upholds his part of the deal, NO GUARANTEE OR SECONDARY NETWORK VERIFICATION CAN BE MADE. With these coins no real “trusted” address truly exist. ALL participants are on the same level. You could make the philosophical argument it is real equality in its truest sense.

Myself, I prefer to maintain a degree of transparency and the ability to warn, network wide, of compromised addresses and shady businesses. A little something which is impossible with these privacy coins.