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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

> For a privacy focused application, these attributes make crypto a better choice than USD and the traditional banking system.

So is cash. What we really need are ways of scanning a piece of fiat currency that instantly transfers that money to an account while then disabling the physical copy from the registry as valid. That's how silly I see crypto for anything other than illicit transactions

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Cash is tracked via serial numbers in a lot of places, here is a recent article from Germany.

https://netzpolitik.org/2025/bargeld-tracking-du-hast-ueberw...

USPS will happily exchange your cash for a money order without an ID as long as it’s under a certain amount, if you’re willing to take the risk you can mail the money order and transfer reasonably sized checks fully anonymously, there are good reasons large transfers of cash probably shouldn’t be anonymous

If you’re really paranoid, you can mail cash directly if you’re willing that risk. I’m guessing the number of grandparents sending $5 for birthdays is getting smaller, but I’ve seen first hand the number of people willing to send cash to avoid having checks/credit card charges for specific places. There is no more anonymous method of payment than cash regardless of what cryptoBros tell you. This isn’t X-files where wanting to believe is enough

>There is no more anonymous method of payment than cash

Very much depends. Cameras, fingerprints, banknote ids, cell tower/GPS or just people seeing you.

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