[dumbfoundded]

It's the dumbest technology to try to buy illegal stuff now. Most coins have touched an exchange and everything you do is public. Once deanonymized, it's the opposite of private.

Monero & Zcash are exceptions and the only parts of crypto I'm bullish about (including some new upcoming chains like Ironfish & Aleo). I think private p2p cash has a lot of value. BTC & ETH are the opposite of private.

[kube-system]

It's still useful as a means of transferring money for those in jurisdictions that don't care about their illegal activity. Like the countries that tolerate cybercrime as long as it is directed outside of their own borders. Or dictators themselves trying to avoid sanctions.

[dumbfoundded]

It's still useful for now, but it will get less and less so. The tornado cash dev is in jail for writing code that made such efforts easier. Since coins can be marked by "good" actors as having been involved in illegal activity, they can't ever be used again.

Let's say a US company gets ransomware attacked by a Russian national and demands payment in bitcoin. US company pays in bitcoin and later reports crime. All accounts get flagged. Anyone helping that address offramp the money will be in trouble. So there has to be a Russian exchange dealing with Russian banks that's creating a track record of provably aiding in crime. It's either going to be such a small amount no one cares or the Russian companies involved will be sanctioned.

Because of the public permanent record, the utility of ETH and BTC are decreasingly useful. Things like instant international settlement, fast payments, and the alike can always be better done with tradfi. Privacy and avoiding regulation was the only real utility ever.

[thatguy0900]

For now it seems the agencies with the technical expertise to prosecute arnt going after the occasional drug buyers, it's pretty safe. Of course, nothing stopping future better police from taking through old records

[WeylandYutani]

There's no statute of limitations on buying child pornography in my country. Drugs nobody cares.

[altdataseller]

What are examples of private p2p cash?

[dumbfoundded]

Monero & Zcash are the best examples right now but like bitcoin, they are volatile and not practical for actual commerce outside of use-cases (like crime) where it's worth the cost.

Stablecoins are a large use case in crypto now but there isn't a private stablecoin yet (I'm ignoring all SGX based technology). A private stablecoin, fully backed by audited bank reserves would enable something like a private Venmo. This private Venmo would know how much you brought in and took out but would have no idea what your transaction history looks like. I think in the next few years we'll see a private Venmo.