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Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

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Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#141

Post by the_stc »

geofft wrote: post #133
the_stc wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am unable to judge zcash and must rely on other cues. So when the founders seem to be saying they're OK with backdoors, it makes me think hey, given the chance maybe there's something they could do. Anyways once they get mandatory shielded transactions I'll look at it in more depth and see if I can get comfortable.

> I am unable to judge zcash and must rely on other cues. So when the founders seem to be saying they're OK with backdoors, it makes me think hey, given the chance maybe there's something they could do. This approach is vulnerable to an easy attack: get government funding, design a cryptosystem with lots of backdoors, and proudly proclaim that you will never add one and you will absolutely stand up to the government.…

agree

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#142

Post by neuro_imager »

the_stc wrote: post #140
neuro_imager wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple questions: - Aren't zerocoin and zerocash two different currencies? Did you mean to say zerocash in your previous comment? - If what Matt Green is saying is true, is there a way to create a backdoor in Monero or any other new crypto that comes along? - One of the reservations that I have around z-cash is the "don't roll your own crypto" mantra even if you are an experienced, academic cryptographer? Is z-cash…

I know, but it's the history of the person I'm looking at. Monero could well have weaknesses. That's why I don't rely on it. In fact, I know it has weaknesses. Monero's problem is they do not adequately tell people how to use it safely. The marketing is all about how Monero is safe, not about its limitation. Dangerous game for them to play. It's not about rolling own crypto. My understanding is that zcash is more ris…

I'm curious about your roll-out strategy:

Why start up world wide? Why not start only in jurisdictions where what you're doing is legal? Wouldn't that give yourselves an opportunity to build and test all the layers of your company in a relatively safe environment before moving into markets like the US?

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#143

Post by the_stc »

neuro_imager wrote: post #142
the_stc wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know, but it's the history of the person I'm looking at. Monero could well have weaknesses. That's why I don't rely on it. In fact, I know it has weaknesses. Monero's problem is they do not adequately tell people how to use it safely. The marketing is all about how Monero is safe, not about its limitation. Dangerous game for them to play. It's not about rolling own crypto. My understanding is that zcash is more ris…

I'm curious about your roll-out strategy: Why start up world wide? Why not start only in jurisdictions where what you're doing is legal? Wouldn't that give yourselves an opportunity to build and test all the layers of your company in a relatively safe environment before moving into markets like the US?

Not starting worldwide. Launch city Toronto. There are essentially no jurisdictions where we'd be legal. Places that have legal sex work usually make surrounding activities legal. Places where it's fully legal have regulatory issues we wouldn't pass.

US targeted for mid-2018 after we have a few cities smoothly operating.

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#144

Post by linkregister »

kafkaesq wrote: post #127
linkregister wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being down voted? Jollies? What? I don't think he had more technical capability than a typical SharePoint administrator at the time of his leaks. Setting up a VPN is pretty much sysadmin work. Digital Ocean had excellent guides on setting up OpenVPN and IPSec tunnels on CentOS in 2012. SharePoint administration is credible tech work, it's just unrelated to programming and crypto. He has had time to learn about…

I don't think he had more technical capability than a typical SharePoint administrator at the time of his leaks. Well again there were several journalistic pieces at the time that summarized his work both for the CIA and as a contractor that (taken together) make it pretty clear that, while he's not like some domain expert, his crypto and security skills (before the leak) went significantly beyond that of a typical s…

While at the CIA, he occupied a traditional Active Directory administrator position overseas. Prior to that, he was doing physical security, I believe.

His Dell position in Japan was possibly more broad, I don't know. His Dell position in Hawaii, however, was rote SharePoint and Active Directory administration, according to the articles I've read.

I'm interested in reading a credible article about his skills in cryptography, etc. if you have them on hand.

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#145

Post by chisleu »

safisher wrote: post #10
chisleu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was a coder and a lot of other things too.

That changes everything.

It changes that "he was a sharepoint admin". He was a lot more. He wrote the backup software that was used to distribute drone video/data feeds around the globe. He was a trained offensive security engineer.

He wasn't just a sharepoint admin.

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#146

Post by chisleu »

krapp wrote: post #31
chisleu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was a coder and a lot of other things too.

That describes me, probably you, and most other people here.

Right, except he was also a trained offensive security engineer and wrote code still used extensively in the NSA/CIA operations. (EpicShelter)

He wasn't just a sharepoint admin.

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#147

Post by mrb »

c3534l wrote: post #21
mrb wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

« beyond that they've not created many new business opportunities » What an understatement. As of 2 years ago, at least 729 Bitcoin businesses were created¹, received $1 billion in investments², and employed thousands of persons. ¹ https://venturescannerinsights.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/the-... ² http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/02/technology/bitcoin-1-billion...

Investments are the opposite of what I'm talking about. Where are the returns? What are the new businesses? If you throw a million dollars into a hole, you can't say the useless hole industry is a million dollar idea. If you build a new railroad line, tell me what cities it connects, not how much people have spent building it. I'm well aware there's interest in bitcoin. But the only industry, besides itself, that it'…

Bitcoin revolutionizes payments. There is major growth happening because there is simply no other system that works as well as Bitcoin for fast international payments, as it works for all ("permissionless"), 24/7 (doesn't close on weekends and bank holidays), and quickly (10min block time).

See for example the growth and use of Bitcoin witnessed by payment processor BitPay: https://blog.bitpay.com/bitpay-growth-2017/

It's hard to quantify exactly how much Bitcoin helps the economy on a global scale beyond these BitPay stats, because of the inherent decentralized nature of the tech. But we know it reduces payment friction, so it indirectly increases economic activity of its users.

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#148

Post by kafkaesq »

linkregister wrote: post #144
kafkaesq wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think he had more technical capability than a typical SharePoint administrator at the time of his leaks. Well again there were several journalistic pieces at the time that summarized his work both for the CIA and as a contractor that (taken together) make it pretty clear that, while he's not like some domain expert, his crypto and security skills (before the leak) went significantly beyond that of a typical s…

While at the CIA, he occupied a traditional Active Directory administrator position overseas. Prior to that, he was doing physical security, I believe. His Dell position in Japan was possibly more broad, I don't know. His Dell position in Hawaii, however, was rote SharePoint and Active Directory administration, according to the articles I've read. I'm interested in reading a credible article about his skills in crypt…

I don't follow him too closely, actually, so I wouldn't have the articles handy. But as I recall the WP for him was pretty thick with references as to the details of his various gigs.

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#149

Post by mrb »

the_stc wrote: post #33
mrb wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He knows a thing or two about, you know, privacy . And Zcash's main feature is, you know, privacy :) For the crowd, Zcash obfuscates the sending address, the receiving address, and even the amount transacted, using zero-knowledge proofs.

Only when you opt-in to using shielded transactions. Which up until the recent upgrade took a ton of CPU power and RAM to do. Combine that with two of the founders saying they're OK with backdoors (Green) and making it too traceable for criminals (Zooko) plus a 20% cut of all the currency for years and it starts looking sort of bad. (Yes it's 10% overall, but instead of showing long-term trust in their project, they…

«too traceable for criminals (Zooko)»

No. Zooko denied it: https://twitter.com/zooko/status/864341289374023680

Re: Edward Snowden: Zcash Is 'Most Interesting Bitcoin Alternative'

#150

Post by hackerboos »

tambienben wrote: post #18
hackerboos wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every crypto-currency has it's zealots but that's not to detract from what Snowden said about Monero, labelling it "amateur crypto". Ring signatures have been around longer than zk-snarks so time will tell on that comment. I do however believe Zcash could be doing a better job for privacy, notably by mandating private transactions once the new "JUBJUB"optimizations have been merged [0]. [0] - https://z.cash/blog/cult…

Any idea how well alternatives like zcoin might hold up over time?

I don't know much about Zcoin. Looks promising if the description is to be believed.
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