This is original content. AI was not used anywhere except for the bottom right image, simply because I could not find one similar enough to what I needed. This took around 6 hours to make.
Transcription (for the visually impaired)
(I tried my best)
The background is an iceberg with 6 levels, denoting 6 different levels of privacy.
The tip of the iceberg is titled “The Brainwashed” with a quote beside it that says “I have nothing to hide”. The logos depicted in this section are:
- Apple
- TikTok
- PayPal
- Google Chrome
- CashApp
- Samsung
- Steam
- Microsoft Windows
- Ring (Security Camera)
- YouTube
- Amazon
- Discord
- Gmail
- ChatGPT
The surface section of the iceberg is titled “As seen on TV” with a quote beside it that says “This video is sponsored by…”. The logos depicted in this section are:
An underwater section of the iceberg is titled “The Beginner” with a quote beside it that says “I don’t like hackers and spying”. The logos depicted in this section are:
- Telegram
- Authy
- Brave Browser
- Privacy.com (Virtual Cards)
- DuckDuckGo
- iMessage
- Proton Mail
- AdBlock (Browser Extension)
A lower section of the iceberg is titled “The Privacy Enthusiast” with a quote beside it that says “I have nothing I want to show”. The logos depicted in this section are:
An even lower section of the iceberg is titled “The Privacy Activist” with a quote beside it that says “Privacy is a human right”. The logos depicted in this section are:
- Monero
- GrapheneOS
- Vanadium (Web Browser)
- KeePassDX
- SimpleX Chat
- Accrescent
- SearXNG
- Aegis Authenticator
- OpenWrt
- Mullvad VPN
- An illustration of physical cash
The lowest portion of the iceberg is titled “The Ghost”. There is a quote beside it that has been intentionally redacted. The images depicted in this section are:
- A cancel sign over a mobile phone, symbolizing “no electronics”
- An illustration of a log cabin, symbolizing “living in a log cabin in the woods”
- A picture of gold bars, symbolizing “paying only in gold”
- A picture of a death certificate, symbolizing “faking your own death”
- An AI generated picture of a person wearing a black hoodie, a baseball cap, a face mask, and reflective sunglasses, symbolizing “hiding ones identity in public”
End of transcription.
Yeah this invalidates the whole chart. Fuck crypto spam.
Ditto
You can absolutely use monero without converting it to other currency. You just haven’t looked in right places. Of course you can’t buy a loaf of bread with it, but you cannot use gold either, neither can you rent a server with something like mongolian togrog, yet, they’re all still valid forms of currency.
Well, perhaps not Monero, and perhaps not a loaf of bread either, but also not far from that. One large e-shop in Slovakia I use (Alza) supports crypto payments via Confirmo (BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, SOL, POL, LTC, TRX). They sell mostly electronics, but also some food items.
Now, since you’ve mentioned bread:
But I haven’t yet tried crypto.
Who on earth is advocating for using gold as your daily currency? That’s completely unrelated. The entire argument is that Monero is supposed to replace your Fiat currency. It can’t. I don’t know how many ways I can state this. If you have to convert it or otherwise reveal yourself at the point of sale, then it’s useless.
I really don’t have anything else to say. I made my point several ways across several comments. If y’all want to fanboy logic your way into a complete waste of resources and time then be my guest.
Wall Street investors took you up on your offer.
More like WSB
It’s objectively more private, if you take your own bias out of the equation. Monero doesn’t get much use however, its not very popular but it is private.
What you call “bias” I call “not buying in to a phenomenal waste of time and resources built on the dreams of bagholders and fascist crypto bros.” Crypto will never be a mainstream currency. You have to convert to your fiat of choice at some point for the vast majority of purchases. This has been the case for the ~15 years since Bitcoin first launched and it isn’t changing any time soon.
I’m biased against Facebook. You gonna hold that against me too?
Do you think credit cards are ideal? People happily pay a 4% fee to Visa to buy something at the store, yet you think a spot convert is going to be the death knell?
As well as the deflation of their currency, as the currency increases at around 10% a year, as you’re praying that a CPI that does hedonic adjustments and substitutions maintains your standard of living; as we go from free range to factory farms, and housing appreciation is excluded entirety.
Maybe it wont be bitcoin, maybe it will be fractional shares, or spot convert gold, but I am definitely waiting for the day when I can hold 0$ in cash. I’m already near 0, but I’d like to replace it entirely.
When did I ever advocate for credit cards?
You want just a fatty wad of cash, and for tellers to sit there counting change or what?
Or maybe a CBDC, so they can inflate it even more, giving out your purchasing power like like its a political football?
I don’t understand why we even going down this path. I am not advocating for the current financial structure/means of paying for things. I’m not advocating for any particular way of paying for things when you get down to it. I am critiquing this method. I am saying Monero is not capable of doing what it’s supposed to do. If I can’t make regular purchases with it - even just for a quarter of the things in my life - Then it’s functionally useless. if I have to convert it back to the very means I am trying to escape, all I’ve done is added an extra step.
Well its still early days, Biden was very against Crypto, so point of sales systems couldnt provide it. Companies like Square are now working on it, so you will be able to use it; or any form of cash you want, or fractional shares and gold etf.
Maybe all currencies will just be forced to compete on inflation one day, and everyone will use the one with the lowest annual growth in new supply.
Monero doesn’t need to be mainstream, it’s immediately useful for privacy. Its price could dump 99% and it would be equally useful. You buy some, make your transaction, enjoy your anonymity and then forget about it. It’s a tool, not an investment.
How? Can you pay rent? Buy groceries? Pay for a cab? Buy a vehicle? Purchase a game on Steam?
How many of your last 100 purchases do you think you did with Monero without ever converting to fiat?
My friend uses it to anonymously buy servers. Their country has a history of killing political activists so they take their privacy seriously when it comes to that kind of thing.
I would say Monero was useful to them, at that time. It didn’t have to be mainstream to be useful. They weren’t investing in it. It allowed them to make an international transaction which is much harder to track than other accepted payment methods.
You can exchange it to another accepted crypto, or convert to fiat depending on what you’re trying to do. If you differ the exact amounts you buy and use, and delay the timing of your monero purchase and final purchase, it gives you anonymity. Or more like plausible deniability. Nobody said anonymity was convenient. You also don’t need every purchase to be anonymous for it to be useful.
When you do most of those purchases you’re not anonymous to begin. But if you want to buy an embarrassing pornographic game on Steam and don’t want your payment provider to have “FURRYDICKS STUDIO” in your name, you sure can use Monero.
Therefore adding a step for no reason and invalidating the entire reason for using it.
That doesn’t make any sense. The information is at the point of sale, which you just said is often not even done with monero itself, thus invaliding the entire reason for using it.
Then how does monero solve the issue at all? What privacy are you gaining if you’re literally admitting that you can’t get around the PoS issue?
No, you can’t, because you can’t buy it anonymously with Monero.
Again: How many of your last 100 purchases were made directly with monero? Just ballpark, I’m sure you have a sense.
I think this is simply a privacy education issue. Here’s how to anonymously buy a steam game, step by step:
If your secure computer is totally anonymous, so is your purchase.
Of my last 1 million purchases, exactly zero were done this way. The currency is not worth zero so obviously it’s useful to some. “I don’t personally use it” is an unconvincing argument, you simply don’t care about private purchases which is totally ok.
I would like you to point out where I said “I don’t use it so it isn’t useful for anyone else.”
I do care about private purchases. Monero is not a viable option as a daily driver in the slightest. That’s the point, don’t make my argument/position something it is not. Point out where I even hinted I don’t care about that.
I’m pointing out flaws in this “solution.” I am not advocating against privacy. That’s a ridiculous take.