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Comment by ajkdhcb2 | Hacker News Reader

> the decoy based privacy protocols Monero uses are not really private at all.

This is simply not true, otherwise you should present real evidence. It is not perfect, but nothing ever will be, and Monero continues to move forward and use the best technology available. Research continues, and they hope to move away from "decoy based protocols" altogether eventually, but the tradeoffs have so far been too great. Unlike bitcoin, it is able to do large changes, since there is a completely different development culture

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>Unlike bitcoin, it is able to do large changes, since there is a completely different development culture

Can be read as: a 'relatively' small group of people control the protocol to such a level that arbitrary changes can be enacted with relative ease.

An example that comes to mind is Ethereum, which is essentially controlled by a single developer aided by a few others. When a bug in a contract would have cost many people a significant amount, the lead developer lead the charge (to the applause of almost all) in forking the chain.

I haven't looked at Monero in enough detail to confirm this, but your statement is not exactly a selling point. Having decentralization to the point that it becomes hard for developers to force through changes, should be a feature... not a bug.

You have a great point and for this reason Monero should be viewed differently. It is not bitcoin. However, the technology is just not at the point where you can have a protocol that is fixed in stone, and bitcoin is not something that I think is good for the world because it is a dangerous tool of mass surveillance which you can't fix without fundamental changes.

>Having decentralization to the point that it becomes hard for developers to force through changes

This is happening to Monero too over time, as the community grows. I expect it will continue to become more difficult to gain consensus over time. There is, at least, many developers and no 'leader' figure like Vitalik

I’m glad to hear that Monero is still on the right track.

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