But one of the promises of the blockchain is anonymous transactions, free from evil incumbent central authorities. If this needs a proof of identity then why not use existing government systems, such as passports, which incidentally, in most countries, already contain biometric information.
> testing the concept in lower-income countries has a "colonial experimentation" look to it
Yes, that makes this especially disgusting.
> HN is very anti-crypto so I expect any conversation on this topic is an uphill battle
Well, it seems every single story about crypto shows it reinventing the wheel with worse tools, poor insights, and trying to make it square.
Crypto only really makes sense when it's tied to sovereignty. Using passports ties it to nation state sovereignty.
It's worth keeping in mind Timothy May's email signature from the cypherpunks mailing list, which gave birth to all of this:
Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
knowledge, reputations, information markets,
black markets, collapse of governments
But one of the promises of the blockchain is anonymous transactions, free from evil incumbent central authorities. If this needs a proof of identity then why not use existing government systems, such as passports, which incidentally, in most countries, already contain biometric information.
> testing the concept in lower-income countries has a "colonial experimentation" look to it
Yes, that makes this especially disgusting.
> HN is very anti-crypto so I expect any conversation on this topic is an uphill battle
Well, it seems every single story about crypto shows it reinventing the wheel with worse tools, poor insights, and trying to make it square.