[thomaszander]

This is an often seen opinion and there is some nuance to this idea.

Monero doesn't enable privacy by default, but its known as a privacy coin. The first means that people could be unaware of the extra steps they need to take to get privacy, but the second is the risky one.

Monero is known as a privacy coin and this makes it the target of governments that indeed made ShapeShift start to to KYC a year or more ago.

Monero is unduly targeted for standard features because governments don't like perfect privacy...

The good news is that privacy does not have to be built in to a coin for it to be capable of giving privacy. If we reverse the Monero situation we might get something that is actually useful for the majority of us. A coin like Bitcoin that doesn't have more than semi-privacy can have mixing added to become private.

Now, mixing as historically done on BTC is both expensive and centralized, which has caused several servers to be confiscated and people arrested. Again, governments really don't like what you do with your money being private.

I'm personally a big fan of https://cashfusion.org ticks all these boxes. It is built on a semi-private (bitcoin-like) coin and it solves the other problems as well with a mix (sorry, fusion) costing you nearly nothing.

[ajkdhcb2]

Privacy is much more difficult than people think - when it comes down to technical details, it is required for privacy to be default, otherwise it simply doesn't work. Even when every single transaction is mixed, and values are hidden, there are STILL not-insignificant risks. If it is not mandatory then it is just not good enough, even for people that are not doing high-risk things.

>Monero doesn't enable privacy by default, but its known as a privacy coin. The first means that people could be unaware of the extra steps they need to take to get privacy

That is erroneous.

[thomaszander]

> when it comes down to technical details, it is required for privacy to be default, otherwise it simply doesn't work.

Absolutely, we are in agreement.

The point I was making is that the coin itself, the base protocols, adding these privacy options makes it the difference between a generic payment protocol and one specifically made to evade the governments controls.

There being a way to do great privacy while leaving the coin itself to be a generic payment coin gives you the best of both worlds.

The point you make is still true, it is required for privacy to be default on. And this can be included in one wallet that people use for this purpose. Now its the choice of wallet that makes the privacy, not the choice of coin.

[meowster]

> Monero doesn't enable privacy by default

It does in fact enable privacy by default. If you want to show someone the details of a transaction or an address balance, you have to provide viewkeys.

> I'm personally a big fan of

Now your comment reads like an attempt to shill, which would explain the misinformation about Monero.

According to HN's rules, I have to assume you have better intentions than that. Please explain what you meant, since I must have misunderstood you.

[thomaszander]

> It does in fact enable privacy by default.

Ok, my statement was maybe too black/white and you jumped on top of that. The point is that Monero has Privacy level / mixin settings, the default is not completely open, but certainly doesn't qualify as super private either.

> Now your comment reads like an attempt to shill

I shared a link to a product that I feel is very successful in reaching privacy. I have no ties to this product (though I have used it).

[caffeinatedgoat]

> The point is that Monero has Privacy level / mixin settings

I'm sorry but you clearly have no idea what you're talking about

[ajkdhcb2]

>Monero has Privacy level / mixin settings,

What are you even talking about?