When it comes to sending and receiving payments, a lot of people want to do so in an anonymous manner. Unfortunately, many people feel drawn to Bitcoin for this kind of purpose, but as it turns out there is no viable way to do so properly. But is there a need for anonymous payments?
Anonymous Payments Are Almost Impossible
Accepting an anonymous payment is nearly impossible these days unless you use cash to transfer value. Unlike most other solutions available in the world today, cash has inherent anonymous traits, as no personal information is exchanged when making cash transfers.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, is anything but anonymous, as all of the transactions are publicly recorded on the blockchain. Anyone in the world can see every transaction on the blockchain in real-time, and see where funds are going to at any given time. Even though this does not include personal information either, there is an origin and destination for all funds that anyone can trace, rendering Bitcoin not anonymous.
In fact, some of the most common payment methods we use today are not anonymous by nature either. Credit and debit cards are becoming the new norm all over the world these days, which had also led to many card information breaches throughout the years. When making such payment, all types of personal information is disclosed, including addresses, names, and the payment information itself. Not the most secure method by any means.
Some people might argue that mobile payments can be pretty anonymous, but they would be mistaken in that regard as well. Most mobile payment solutions rely on traditional payment methods such as credit and debit cards, rendering the entire anonymity principle moot. There is no such thing as an anonymous payment method other than cash right now.
At the same time, consumers have to ask themselves if they need anonymous payment solutions to begin with. It only makes sense to try and be as privacy-centric as possible when sending funds, but when it comes to receiving money, there should be no need for anonymity at all. After all, why would a recipient of money want to hide his identity? This makes any business look suspicious from the get-go, and will not install any confidence with potential customers.
Source: Reddit
If you liked this article follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin and altcoin price analysis and the latest cryptocurrency news.
Image(s): Shutterstock.com
