>Except that the vast majority of that money was invested for pump & dump ICOs. They were able to make back their investments in record time by stealing from fools.
Many VCs have had significant token holdings for years, so they are invested long term.
>There isn't any real legal uncertainty, except for not being able to use money laundering tumblers, though.
There is substantial legal uncertainty, with everything ranging from US senators publishing open letters calling for banks to be investigated for crypto associations [1], to major social media companies canceling very large token projects [2], with one of the two main concerns raised being an "evolving regulatory environment" (which in all likelihood is a reference to the recent very hostile regulatory approach the SEC has taken toward all crypto tokens) [3], to privacy technology being sanctioned.
>This already exists with banks and credit cards.
That is already completely wrong, but at least there is a pretense of respecting privacy rights, as the mandates are imposed only on trusted third party intermediaries, and not participants in peer-to-peer transactions.
>but those are all good things in general for society while still allowing these private organizations to provide you privacy.
That takes privacy away from people, so it is not a good thing.
>Even using tumblers, if you were to use a wallet for legitimate transactions, it wouldn't take much effort to unmask you.
Transaction encryption would make cryptocurrency private enough mass-consumer use. It would also preclude dragnet surveillance, as significant analysis is required to unmask a target who is using it.
Many VCs have had significant token holdings for years, so they are invested long term.
>There isn't any real legal uncertainty, except for not being able to use money laundering tumblers, though.
There is substantial legal uncertainty, with everything ranging from US senators publishing open letters calling for banks to be investigated for crypto associations [1], to major social media companies canceling very large token projects [2], with one of the two main concerns raised being an "evolving regulatory environment" (which in all likelihood is a reference to the recent very hostile regulatory approach the SEC has taken toward all crypto tokens) [3], to privacy technology being sanctioned.
>This already exists with banks and credit cards.
That is already completely wrong, but at least there is a pretense of respecting privacy rights, as the mandates are imposed only on trusted third party intermediaries, and not participants in peer-to-peer transactions.
>but those are all good things in general for society while still allowing these private organizations to provide you privacy.
That takes privacy away from people, so it is not a good thing.
>Even using tumblers, if you were to use a wallet for legitimate transactions, it wouldn't take much effort to unmask you.
Transaction encryption would make cryptocurrency private enough mass-consumer use. It would also preclude dragnet surveillance, as significant analysis is required to unmask a target who is using it.
[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/08/warren-ftx-crypto-r...
[2] https://mashable.com/article/reddit-community-points-ethereu...
[3] https://unchainedcrypto.com/reddit-to-discontinue-community-...