Mar 21, 2021
Issue 2: Pronounced Privacy Issues In Contemporary Cryptocurrencies — Overview
Cryptocurrencies offer an alternative to traditional methods of electronic value exchange, promising anonymous, cash-like electronic transfers, but in practice they fall short for several key reasons, as they are often not as private as is commonly believed. Analysis of Bitcoin transactions can deanonymize them, and researchers have shown that it is eminently possible to identify meaningful patterns among the transactions (Meiklejohn et al., 2013; Tasca et al., 2016).
The problem persists not only as a result of prevalent web trackers and the reuse of pseudonyms linked to Bitcoin wallets (Goldfeder et al., 2017) but also because inbound transactions to a Bitcoin address can fundamentally be linked to outbound transactions from that address (Al Jawaheri et al., 2018). Indeed, it has even been argued that the explicit traceability of transactions on the Bitcoin ledger, combined with a straightforward approach to tagging suspect transactions (Anderson et al., 2018), make it even less private than traditional mechanisms of payment. Even cryptocurrencies such as Monero, which are designed for privacy, have been shown to have important weaknesses (Kappos et al., 2018; Möser et al., 2018).
Another, perhaps equally important deficiency of cryptocurrencies is that they are not as decentralized as is commonly believed. Although decentralization is often touted as the raison d’être of cryptocurrencies (Buterin, 2017), in practice the governance, “mining,” and infrastructure services associated with cryptocurrencies have remained stubbornly centralized for a variety of reasons (Chepurnoy, 2017). The problem of decentralization is intimately related to the more elemental governance problem how to ensure that the system serves the interest of its users. Without institutional support, there is little to ensure that this remains the case.
The Privateum Solution
Privateum’s Private Asset Management
The Council of Europe, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights define privacy as a right. Article 12 “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”All transactions are executed in the Privateum network, that is secure and protected by Privateum Ghost network solution. Security and decentralization are not compromised, thanks to the innovative Privateum Ghost network nodes architecture. Using Privateum to transfer funds, pay for the goods and services means getting privacy and security. Trade and manage your assets, no outsiders encroachment on tracking your activity.
Privateum Initiative
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