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Bitcoin's Success With Investors Alienates Earliest Adopters
holy_calamity writes "Digital currency Bitcoin is gaining acceptance with mainstream venture capitalists, reports Technology Review, but at the price of its famed anonymity and ability to operate without central authority. Technology investors have now ploughed millions of dollars into a handful of Bitcoin-based payments and financial companies that are careful to follow financial regulations and don't offer anonymity. That's causing tensions in the community of Bitcoin enthusiasts, some of whom feel their currency's success has involved abandoning its most important features."
I don't understand, how are they removing the anonimity of Bitcoin?
They aren't. Bitcoins can now be used in new venues, but that does not stop private transactions. The article is just stupid. If I deposit cash in a bank, I will be recorded by a security camera. But that doesn't mean I can no longer buy stuff anonymously with cash at the local flea market.
But you can wipe your fingerprints off that cash. Coins don't even have serial numbers and the numbers on notes are not tracked in every transaction.
You can't wipe your bitcoin address off the block chain.
If you associate that data with a person, they're forever tied to that transaction and you can follow it.
Unless you use a different address for every transaction you will ever make, "They" find out your entire transaction history as soon as they match you to a single transaction, through one of these new services popping up that keeps and shares records with "Them"