Richard Stallman, does not trust bitcoin
https://ift.tt/ivS3PcH
Stallman’s purported alternative is **GNU Taler**:
> **Where is the balance in my wallet stored?**
> *The exchange keeps funds matching all unspent coins in an escrow bank account.*
> *Taler wallets can store digital coins corresponding to multiple different currencies such as the Euro, US Dollars or Bitcoins.*
Stallman advocates trusting your money to a bank. He believes in using a trusted custodian, without ever explaining on what grounds we should trust such designated custodian.
> **How does Taler relate to the (European) Electronic Money Directive?**
> *We believe the European Electronic Money Directive provides part of the regulatory framework a Taler exchange with coins denominated in Euros would have to follow.*
Wait a minute. This directive refuses to guarantee privacy. It has a be strong emphasis on KYC/AML. Still, Taler also says:
> **How does Taler protect my privacy?**
> *Your wallet stores digital coins that are blindly signed by an exchange. The use of a blind signature protects your privacy as it prevents the exchange from knowing which coin it signed for which customer.*
So, Stallman also advocates that we should trust an exchange with protecting our privacy. Why should we do that? What exactly justifies our trust in the people behind such exchange?
**Concerning the claims made by Taler:**
> **Payments without registration**
> **Data protection by default**
**Bullshit.** That is not compatible with the European Electronic Money Directive.
> **Fraud eliminated by design**
**Bullshit.** Their system uses two trusted custodians: an escrow bank and an exchange. Taler offers no guarantee whatsoever as to their trustworthiness. For example, how does Stallman argue that Taler is not just another Mt.Gox?
> **Not a new currency!**
Taler makes use of some kind of vaguely defined stablecoin system, supposedly representing the funds in escrow, and with even worse auditability than Tether.
Taler does not offer guarantees that prevent covert money printing by the trusted custodians. Even worse than Tether, it does not even reveal how much of their stablecoin is in circulation at any given time.
**Conclusion:** Taler is an outright imbecile project that is naive beyond reason. The project’s claims are also highly contradictory. It is not even comparable to Dogecoin, as a bad joke, because Dogecoin does at least not make promises that it cannot keep.
Cryptocurrency
