Letter #208: Bitcoin Can Be Private, But It's Not Anonymous

Read now to learn how privacy and anonymity are far from the same thing, even on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Dear Readers,

It’s incredible to think how much so-called mainstream media gets wrong about Bitcoin. For example, just last week, one of the largest newspapers in the United States tried to vilify Bitcoin miners for the *crime*, if you will, of using electricity, all while giving a pass to everyone else on the planet, all of whom also use electricity.

Not to be outdone, another of the largest newspapers in the country printed a slanted attack of its own against Bitcoin, claiming that the U.S. government had cracked “Bitcoin’s anonymity.”

Some in the space argue that these types of articles are so poorly reasoned that they must be intentional attempts to slander Bitcoin and its users. That certainly could be the case; however, I tend to think that many of them are written by ill-informed journalists who are looking for their next sensationalist headline, and who are unwilling to actually put in the work to understand Bitcoin.

Either way, their wrongs must be righted.