Bitcoin, Privacy & Sh*tcoins: The Wild Debate You Didn’t Know You Needed 🚀

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Saifedean Ammous, the guy who wrote the Bitcoin manual for dummies, decided to stir the pot by questioning whether privacy actually matters in money. Because apparently, who needs secrets when you can have a transparent piggy bank, right? 🐷

In an exclusive chat with CryptoMoon, he threw shade at Zcash, calling it a “shitcoin” – classy, right? The reason? It’s got this fancy trusted setup from 2016 where you gotta trust some random folks to handle your privacy magic. And no, he’s not here for that “trust” game.

“This whole privacy thing is built on a trust fall,” Ammous chuckled. “I’m not gonna dive into these stupid games.” Yeah, because who needs cryptography when you have… well, trust in strangers. 🙄

He admits, maybe he doesn’t know all the nerdy protocol details, but he’s not sold on whether Zcash’s privacy features actually help anyone trust the total supply of ZEC tokens. Basically, it’s privacy vs. accountability – like choosing between wearing sunglasses or a blindfold.

“As I understand it, the anonymity benefits come at the expense of the auditability benefits.”

Zcash’s shielded transactions hide everything – sender, receiver, amounts – using zero-knowledge proofs. Sounds fancy, right? It’s like passing notes in class without the teacher seeing. 📜🤫

Despite all the fuss, you can still see the Zcash pools on blockchain explorers-because, let’s be honest, transparency is difficult to hide even if you want to.

Privacy vs. Hard Money: The Crypto Rumble

Crypto legends weighed in on Ammous’ comments, and boy, it got spicy. One Twitter user wondered what the Bitcoin OGs think about Zcash. Spoiler: Ammous called it a “shitcoin” – shocker! 😂

So, what do hardcore Bitcoiners actually think about Zcash? 🤔

To quote @saifedean – “Zcash is a shitcoin.”

Honestly, I expected that answer. But what he said about privacy and money was even more interesting 👇

“This is the question. How much demand is there for money that…”

– Gareth Jenkinson (@gazza_jenks) November 27, 2025

Mert Mumtaz from Helius jumped in with the “false dichotomy” theory – basically, you can have your private, non-debased money. Zcash, apparently, has got that covered. Because, you know, privacy doesn’t have to mean shady dealings (probably).

“You should have money that is not debased and is private. That’s zcash. Further, you just can’t have money that’s free from the state unless it’s private. If it can be seen, it can be seized.”

Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, reminisced about the good ol’ days when Bitcoiners actually cared about privacy. Nostalgia, anyone? 📸

“I’m old enough to remember when all hardcore Bitcoiners cared about privacy. Fortunately, many still do.”

Zcash’s co-founder Zooko Wilcox cheekily pointed out that the Canadian government, in their infinite wisdom, tracked Bitcoin addresses of trucker protests. Because transparency is a double-edged sword, huh? 🚚💥

Crypto enthusiasts kept the debate going, arguing whether privacy is a fundamental right or just a marketing gimmick for sh*tty coins. Ammous now thinks blockchain privacy is a work in progress, and Layer-2 solutions might save the day – or at least hide a little more dirt.

He’s clear: real “hard money” needs to resist debasement. Privacy? Meh, optional. In fact, money is inherently un-private – kind of like revealing your snack stash to the world.

“People want resistance to inflation, not secret money,” Ammous insists. Because, let’s face it, in the digital age, every transaction leaves a breadcrumb trail. 🍪

And Zcash? Yeah, it’s bouncing back. It was top of Coinbase searches and saw its market cap explode to over $10 billion – apparently, privacy sells. Who knew? 💰

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2025-11-28 15:34