[Cryptography] Bitcoin theft and the future of cryptocurrencies

[grarpamp]

On Wed, Dec 27, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Howard Chu <hyc at symas.com> wrote:
> The paper's author has no connection to any particular coin
> project.

Didn't say they were connected.

The btcmanager article's author is though by disclaimer...
"The author owns monero but does not own any zcash."


Rephrasing what that prefixed...

Is it *possible* to use whichever coin in a way such that an
analysis paper against it becomes mitigated / moot?
If no, then add the paper to the stack of breaks, and documented
design inapplicabilities / oversights / cantfixes / wontfixes and so on,
that will weigh upon its validity as a coin, and choices made as to
its use cases. "Goes to zero" breaks are obviously included in this.
If yes, then simply bashing the coin as broken, is crap rhetoric,
when the issue may really be better usage, documentation, knowledge,
and design therein so that such footshooting is harder or more obvious.

Given the usage caveats and potential mitigations noted in the
below, perhaps this is really a case of the latter yes condition.

https://z.cash/blog/transaction-linkability.html
http://jeffq.com/blog/on-the-linkability-of-zcash-transactions/
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.01210.pdf
http://jeffq.com/zcash-rtts.htm
https://z.cash/blog/new-research-on-shielded-ecosystem.html
https://btcmanager.com/linkability-zcash-transactions-study-precipitates-debate-opt-privacy/
A Traceability Analysis of Monero’s Blockchain
https://eprint.iacr.org/2017/338.pdf

In sum, all the purported privacy coins have years of analysis
and improvements to go before the word private can truly
be considered to apply to any of them. Further, it may
be that newer privacy tech and privacy coins will surpass
any that exist today. Communities getting embattled aren't
productive way to address design / tech, accept obsolescense,
and improve with new.

Change is part of the nature of cryptocurrencies.
The old rules of fiat should not be expected to apply.
There will *never*  be one coin to rule them all,
but many happy families. And every one will be far
different than whatever random stack of fiat notes
might fill the purse of a globetrotter.

Ps: DPRK, China, "criminals", etc supposedly print US money
in bulk just like the US itself does... interesting to compare that
to potential outcomes of any compromised ceremonies,
inadequate coin architectures, early heights of flawed blockchains
still affecting their own subsequent fixes and so on...