Satoshi’s Privacy Legacy Reverberates Through Dogecoin; What Happened

In response to a recent observation that raised privacy concerns, vocal Dogecoin community member Mishaboar has echoed the principles laid out by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.

As outlined in the original whitepaper released in 2008, Satoshi envisioned privacy, which ties into the idea of decentralization.

While Bitcoin’s blockchain is transparent, Satoshi acknowledged the need for privacy, suggesting that users could maintain anonymity by keeping their public keys secret.

Satoshi wrote that the traditional banking model achieves a level of privacy by limiting access to information to the parties involved and the trusted third party.

The reverse occurs in the Bitcoin network, where all transactions are publicly announced; however, Satoshi contends that privacy can still be maintained by breaking the flow of information in another place: by keeping public keys anonymous. The public can see that someone is sending an amount to someone else but there is no information linking the transaction to anyone.

Satoshi proposes that, as an additional firewall, a new key pair should be used for each transaction to keep them from being linked to a common owner.

What happened

In a recent tweet, Mishaboar, a Dogecoin community member, draws the community’s attention to something apparent but often overlooked: self-custody equals privacy. He stated that most blockchains, including Bitcoin and Dogecoin, are entirely transparent, with a public ledger open to everybody, allowing anybody to see and track transactions.

Dear #Dogecoin, something that might seem obvious but that most tend to forget. Self-custody != privacy.

Most blockchains, including Bitcoin and Dogecoin, are completely transparent, with a public ledger visible to all. Everybody can see and track transactions.

In his original… pic.twitter.com/70qCY5KTpd

— Mishaboar (@mishaboar) May 4, 2024

Mishaboar explained that in the original Bitcoin whitepaper, Satoshi Nakamoto suggested ways to protect privacy, including avoiding the reuse of addresses. However, this requires wallet apps that are developed with this in mind.

The vocal Dogecoin community member cited an instance: Privacy-oriented wallets discourage users from reusing addresses and incorporate easy-to-use coin control features. However, this does not appear to be the case, as many wallet apps still push users toward a single address use.

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