this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2024
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Privacy
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No as it's not point to point. It involves an intermediate party to broker the transaction. Think that like a bank. You need to apply for one, which most likely involves KYC. Taler is designed such that the recipient is known, for tax purposes they claim.
In contrast, AFAIK crypto can be P2P, only involving the blockchain and miner/validator that don't know you. That's what not Taler try to do.
EDIT: Add correction to crypto description.
So it is a card replacement while crypto is more akin to a cash analog. If the two coexist in the digital world, that would be awesome.
Let's keep cash around as well
YES. In the physical world, no digital tech would be as accessible, easy to use and hard to surveil.
This is a weak point of GNU Taler. I assume one will need to have a bank license to run GNU Taler instance. And banks will not be very motivated. We can dispute how GNU Taler can be better (or not) than crypto, but it is pure theoretical now.
The problem with crypto is that is chaotic. It also has the major downside of being very computational and requiring a ton of energy.
In contrast Taler is a payment system not a crypto. You could technically could use crypto with Taler if you wanted to. Taler has lightning fast payments which have way less overhead.
In summary I think cash and crypto are good for small transactions such as paying a friend but for big businesses and normal shopping Taler is better
I think crypto can achieve stability, not by pegged to a fiat currency but commodity backed. There are also mechanisms and algorithms that can confirm transactions without using excessive energy, be fast, and private all in the same time. I still think crypto have a future. Yet I don't know how far that future is, but for now I will stay away from it as far as I can.