There are few people as close to the frontlines of Bitcoin privacy as Cake Wallet COO Seth for Privacy. After cutting his teeth building for Monero, Seth turned his focus to Bitcoin in 2022, with the view that making Bitcoin more private would ultimately help more people than focusing on a smaller niche target group alone.

“I would love for Monero not to need to exist,” says Seth, as we examine the technical hurdles of bringing true privacy to Bitcoin.

Although he believes that the ability to easily verify transactions on-chain is widely credited with helping Bitcoin gain early traction, Seth argues that its transparent design presents challenges that fundamentally challenge Bitcoin privacy, often making Bitcoin less private than the existing fiat system.

That said, Seth sees potential for key technical advancements in Bitcoin privacy — especially “Silent Payments,” developed by Ruben Somsen and Josie Baker — as having potential to move the needle on Bitcoin Privacy.

We dive into these developments and other key privacy technologies for Bitcoin in this episode, as well reviewing the regulatory and cultural hurdles faced by developers and users alike.

TIMESTAMPS:

🍰 01:15 The origins of Cake Wallet and early use for Monero before Bitcoin

⛏️ 07:22 How Monero's RandomX algorithm defends against ASIC-fueled centralization

🛡️ 15:15 The importance of default privacy and fungibility for blockchains

🕰️ 32:10 The early days of Bitcoin privacy: CoinJoin, Samurai, and Wasabi

🕵️ 39:47 Exploring the limitations of stealth addresses and BIP47

🤫 45:54 Silent Payments and friction with “handshake” transactions

🛠️ 55:00 Overcoming developer hurdles with Silent Payments

🪙 1:05:33 Managing UTXOs and the necessity of intuitive Coin Control

⛓️ 1:16:40 Evaluating Layer 2 privacy, covenants, and custody trade-offs

🔍 1:26:40 The core tension between supply auditability and privacy blinding

⚖️ 1:32:07 The chilling effect of the Samurai Wallet and Tornado Cash indictments

This interview is brought to you by:

LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301)

Hashi on Sui Network — a primitive for executing Bitcoin DeFi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity

BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount