Thread by @DouglasTuman

Nothing but respect for @sethforprivacy for what he has done to help grow monero/crypto-privacy, his ability to understand and communicate crypto concepts, and the genuine diplomacy he brings to the space. His post on why he has shifted more focus to #Bitcoin inspired this 🧵

I’m not saying Seth disagrees with what I’m expressing here but his post inspired this one:

I think Monero is the project cypherpunks should put their energy into. It is already certain that crypto is here to stay but what is VERY uncertain is if it will be able to live up to its full disruptive potential. #Monero #cryptocurrency #cypherpunks

While Bitcoin is the most likely to gain mainstream adoption, if Monero’s adoption grows large enough, it is the most likely to NOT be co-opted by the legacy system. It is our best hope for achieving an incorruptible FUNGIBLE digital cash global cash utility.

This is where the focus should be. Growing Monero adoption. Fueling ITS network effect. Anyone who wants the world to have a true digital cash utility should be using Monero and propelling its growth — building out a Monero circular economy.

Monero works as intended and grows organically. It’s only barrier to reaching escape velocity is a lack of adoption acceleration. Bitcoin can fly on its own, and now we need to make sure Monero makes it out of the nest too and the only thing that can stop it is a lack of adoption

The trajectory of the Bitcoin rocket is already set, the forces that are now determining its path are far more powerful than any effect the remaining 'cypherpunks' working on it can hope to have. It is ossified.

Bitcoin has reached escape velocity, it can’t be stopped, but the legacy system has a means of controlling it. By directing those who see value in using 'digital cash' to “Bitcoin first” at this stage is misdirecting them from where their adoption can have the greatest impact.

The window of opportunity to permanently alter the legacy system is open, crypto is now slipping behind enemy lines, but if we are coaxed into focusing on the network effect of a crypto that is fundamentally susceptible to being co-opted (with its transparent ledger fueling a

chain analysis ecosystem, it’s proof of work asic mining farms being susceptible to regulatory tyranny, and its ossified base layer incentivizing all transactions to move to a second layer system even more prone to government capture) then we will end up with the window closed

and a new money system in place that will be akin to the internet we have today — where governments and large corps ultimately maintain control over it via mass data surveillance.

Bitcoin may be “private enough” for those that want to take the extra steps and risk of not making a mistake, but it is not resistant enough to State control and IT WILL NOT STARVE THE STATE OF ITS ABILITY TO EXTRACT VALUE AT WILL FROM ITS PEOPLE.

Monero is not a “privacy coin”. It is the closest thing to a “true cryptocurrency.” A self-propelling digital cash utility that’s resistant to State control. Privacy isn’t a tool for some uses, it’s essential to providing resistance to surveillance, censorship, and confiscation.

This is why focusing mostly on Bitcoin, and treating Monero like a secondary tool, at this stage is dangerous. It corrals passionate, highly intelligent, liberty-loving individuals into working for Bitcoin First only because fear convinces them that it is the best bet we have.

It subdues these same people from taking what appears to be the “riskier” path and it gains momentum by attracting the masses with the promise of a windfall of wealth if we all just adopt it. It is the perfect strategy to prevent society from opting-into fully toppling the powers

that be by tricking people into thinking that taking away the fiat printers is the key, allowing the puppet masters to solidify their ability to surveil and control money in perpetuity. The greatest threat to crypto is that it “succeeds”, the entire world ports over to it,

but the end result is a perfect, immutable, transparent database of all the world’s transactions — replacing our fiat shackles with crypto collars. Number will go up if you value it in fiat but not if you value your wealth in liberty.

The Bitcoin trojan horse is being welcomed behind the castle walls, now is the time to make sure enough Monero users are onboard to achieve the ultimate goal— the mass adoption of an anti-surveillance digital cash utility resistant to State control. 💪🗽🚀