Hard money vs privacy? Saifedean Ammous questions crypto’s privacy push

Economist Saifedean Ammous sparked fierce debate on social media after questioning the importance of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Zcash versus Bitcoin.

Bitcoin advocate Saifedean Ammous ignited lively debate between Bitcoiners and privacy advocates after he questioned the perceived importance of privacy as a key characteristic of money in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph.

“This is the question. How much demand is there for money that does not get debased versus how much demand is there for money that allows you to maintain your privacy?” Ammous said.

Ammous, the author of The Bitcoin Standard, described Zcash as a “shitcoin” and raised concerns about the initial launch of the project, which involved a trusted setup ceremony in 2016 to generate the cryptographic parameters for its privacy features.

Read more