Topic: 2013-10-15 KQED: The Civil War Inside Bitcoin: Go Anonymous or Go Mainstream? (Read 735 times)

My opinion is similar to that of bittorrent
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/after-nsa-revelations-bittorrent-tries-to-capitalize-on-privacy-fears/article14861176/

Abstract:
Earlier this month, a series of mysterious billboards popped up around Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. The ads made such proclamations as: “The Internet should be regulated” and “Your data should belong to the NSA.”

For days, rumours swirled as to who was responsible. Finally, a San Francisco technology company came forward to claim responsibility – it defaced its own billboards, replacing the words “regulated” with “people-powered” and “the NSA” with “you.”

“We liked the idea of an Internet architecture that’s built without a heavy reliance on a centralized servers, and it’s been really hard to communicate that to broader public because most people didn’t know what a server was,” Mr. Mason said. “That all changed after the PRISM scandal.”

Now the company is trying to capitalize on the opportunity. It is already marketing an online chat service and a data synchronization tool – both of which don’t use central servers. The tools have proven popular with security-conscious users and enterprise customers.

But for the San Francisco company, the longer-term vision for BitTorrent’s future is something far more audacious. The company’s executives see BitTorrent at the centre of the next pillar of Internet communication. Just as Facebook has become the company at the centre of social networking and Google occupies the same role in the world of search, BitTorrent is trying to become the default name in distributed computing – an area that is growing at a fast pace.

If it succeeds, BitTorrent may finally be able to shake off its reputation as little more than a tool to download movies. Indeed, its people-powered network – the source of so much criticism over the years – may become its most profitable asset.

“We think that privacy and control and efficiency are better served if the end of the network is where the intelligence is,” Mr. Mason said.

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Butcher the last few sentences and my opinion XD

The longer-term vision for Bitcoin’s future is something far more audacious. People can see Bitcoin at the centre of the next pillar of Internet finance. Just as Facebook has become the company at the centre of social networking and Google occupies the same role in the world of search, Bitcoin is trying to become the default name in distributed finance – an area that is growing at a fast pace.

If it succeeds, Bitcoin may finally be able to shake off its reputation as little more than a tool to deal drugs. Indeed, its people-powered network – the source of so much criticism over the years – may become its most profitable asset.

“We think that privacy and control and efficiency are better served if the end of the network is where the intelligence is,”

I think it was just a typo. More likely, current number of full nodes is 2.6 millions rather than 2.6 thousands. I mean, only US downloads of Bitcoin-qt in 2013 stand at around 500K, so 2.6K working nodes worldwide just does not make any sense.

Yes, like cash.

Wonder why we don't see any of these latter day monetary gurus wringing their hands about all those billions of anonymous cash transactions taking place everyday? ... god forbid, they might all be money laundering, drugging up, sexing down and who the heck knows what else?! ... no, they just buying coffee and chewing gum, some people need to get a grip on reality (the others are just feathering their regulatory industry nests)

The answer is yes.

BTC is Going Anonymous AND Mainstream not OR 

Do both and have a 2 x 50% chance of success... and you have to get the fiat converted somehow.

But I was suprised at the fall in number of nodes.  Well not that surprised,  but that it has fallen 95% in 2 years and 4 years after inception...wonder what this means

http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/10/15/115021/bitcoin