---
title: "Christine Peterson Sarcasm. If Bitcoin had usable privacy, no one..."
date: 2025-07-05
source: facebook
type: comment
context: "Archer T. Ships replied to Dave Hitt's comment."
fb_link: "https://www.facebook.com/dyi/l/?l=AYNFyna5P3RAia631q4kgMXHJMZOKjZ2sqY8o6e72NwFU7KSWQZtJNmJ6qhyJm8HQ3jbfNCeiq9V7KOoQ3M2tQrP_iOS3mCY3umEyPlyuBK2pEVa5ZxeK19krHbHyd-4SHy1MHywAFmeGRHbOZo4Cgr_qta5w_S1xfNMfkVHiEp0IVqjE6e4BgvVXuow_6FoG88p9wkhUW4&s=519"
---

# Christine Peterson Sarcasm. If Bitcoin had usable privacy, no one...

*July 5, 2025 — Comment Archer T. Ships replied to Dave Hitt's comment.*

Christine Peterson Sarcasm. If Bitcoin had usable privacy, no one except the sender/recipient would have the information that they're tracking (amount, sender wallet, recipient wallet, etc.) More detail if you're interested: Satoshi is a genius, and remarkably far-sighted.  When it began, Bitcoin truly worked for it's intended purpose: "censorship-resistant, p2p, electronic cash: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf But Bitcoin was the first implementation of the first practical cryptocurrency, and Satoshi couldn't anticipate everything. With greater adoption, problems with Bitcoin's usability, privacy, timeliness and cost began to emerge. Many vendors stopped accepting Bitcoin for payments due to the high fees and transaction times.  For example, in 2018, even the North American Bitcoin Conference stopped accepting Bitcoin for payments: https://slate.com/technology/2018/01/the-most-important-blockchain-conference-of-the-year-wont-take-bitcoin-for-last-minute-sales.html Instead of allowing development that would fix these problems on-chain, maxis (then known as "small blockers") ossified the Bitcoin code base, and instead touted second layer solutions like the Lightning Network. They were able to do this because because a company called Blockstream hired most of Bitcoin's core devs (ie the people who controlled access to the Bitcoin code repository). Blockstream is _not_ incentivized to fix the problems with Bitcoin, as they make money by offering second layer solutions like Lightning. Unfortunately, the second layer solutions--including the Lightning Network-- have failed.  The number of vendors who accept Bitcoin for payment fell from ~100,000 in 2015 to ~15,000 in 2025. https://cointelegraph.com/neTws/half-year-report-60-of-worlds-bitcoin-merchants-are-using-bitpay?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://crypto.com/en/bitcoin/who-accepts-bitcoin-payments-in-2024?utm_source=chatgpt.com Many prominent online merchants who initially supported Bitcoin-such as Steam, Stripe, Expedia, and Dell--no longer accept Bitcoin as payment. Almost all of the darknet markets have dropped Bitcoin in favor of Monero. Like Bitcoin itself, the custodial Lightning network has problems with usability, privacy, sluggishness, and high fees. Most non-technical people find Lightning usable only if they go through centralized custodians, like Block's CashApp. For example, based on a study of Lightning usage with Nostr, 90% of all Lightning payments are via custodial wallets. https://river.com/learn/lightning-payments-2025/ Unfortunately,  when you use a custodial wallet, the coins are no longer under your control ("not your keys, not your crypto"). Centralized custodians spy on all of the transactions they process, report those transactions to the government (due to AML/KYC regulations), and will block transactions with censured persons and countries (due to OFAC regulations). If they fail to do so, their executives face massive fines and imprisonment. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/payments-company-block-pay-40-million-fine-new-york-over-compliance-failures-2025-04-10/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-mixer-samourai-wallets-co-founders-arrested-for-money-laundering-df237a4e?utm_source=chatgpt.com Maxis now mostly tout the store of value use case  ("bitcoin is digital gold"), while they lobby the government to force taxpayers to buy their bags for the "strategic Bitcoin reserves". https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-establishes-the-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-and-u-s-digital-asset-stockpile/?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/strategic-cryptocurrency-reserve-swindle/681917/ https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-bitcoin-reserve-keeps-gaining-momentum-will-it-power-cryptos-next-rally-4e532f17 https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/21348979550089 So, Bitcoin has increasingly lost the features that make it a practically useful p2p, censorship-resistant, electronic cash.   Those who actually care about such things have moved to Monero or Zcash. If you would like more detail and history of these events, I recommend the book "Hijacking Bitcoin" by Roger Ver. https://blockworks.co/news/roger-ver-right-bitcoin-book