The host of the American TV show Last Week Tonight John Oliver criticized the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero in a fresh episode of the TV program. It was about a video that advertises the altcoin «as an individual bank for each user, avoiding government repression.»
Oliver pointed out that instead, Monero is one of the most popular tools in the hands of attackers.
Note that the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero often becomes the object of criticism – and sometimes quite deservedly. Due to the ability to hide the details of transactions and other data, the coins are used by criminals. For example, the kidnappers of the wife of Norwegian millionaire Tom Hagen at the beginning of 2019 asked for a ransom in Monero XMR. Then they tried to get the equivalent of 9 million euros.
It is the association with criminals that the American regulators do not like, which actively prevented the appearance of Monero on the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange. This information was at one time confirmed by the head of the platform Brian Armstrong.
Now the cryptocurrency has faced a new portion of criticism.
What’s wrong with Monero?
Here is a quote from the host, in which he shares his attitude to what is happening. The cue is from Decrypt.
This video has a clear connotation of what they are trying to convey to us.
Oliver stated that advertising does not «tell you what to do with a product,» but «leads you to a specific conclusion. » The conclusion is very simple – the hidden message that the decentralized anonymous nature of cryptocurrency will help hide important information from government authorities. This, in turn, is a great motivation for criminals to use Monero.
The presenter continued his criticism.
It’s like seeing a hilarious ad for plastic bathtubs the size and shape of a human body. But they are not needed for anything special, because there are various things the size of a human body that can be placed in one of these reliable baths.
Thus, Oliver makes it clear that all the listed features of an anonymous cryptocurrency are not needed by ordinary people. In doing so, they will definitely attract the attention of scammers and other attackers who can use the strengths of digital assets for bad purposes. We believe that such a judgment is too one-sided and does not correspond to reality. Yes, scammers use digital coins because they cannot be taken outside of cryptocurrency exchanges. However, there are also enough enthusiasts in the niche who simply do not want to expose all their transactions to banks and want to manage their funds on their own.
John’s arguments are not particularly relevant after a case last week when a hacker hacked into the Poly Network project, received the equivalent of $ 611 million and returned it to the developers. Then he stated that he wanted to be a moral leader in the eyes of others. Read more about the story in a separate article.
Here is a video of a show with John Oliver criticizing decentralized assets. We recommend that you look to understand the context if you understand English by ear.
Recall that Monero is an anonymous cryptocurrency, transactions in which are almost impossible to trace. Monero and other anonymous coins such as Zcash and Dash use a variety of cryptographic techniques to hide information that potentially identifies a user.
John Oliver
Proponents of these altcoins argue that digital money should have the same level of privacy as physical cash. At the same time, users must have the right to choose what information about their transaction history they wish to transfer to the government and third parties.
This is also not the first time Monero has been accused of facilitating illegal activity. In May of this year, the Norwegian police tried to hack Monero as part of a missing person investigation. However, so far, government organizations have not been able to conduct a full analysis of the altcoin blockchain.
The main feature of Monero is the use of the anonymous protocol CryptoNote
We think that John Oliver’s position is too unfair. Of course, the features of Monero XMR are enough for the interest of scammers, but there are enough ordinary people among cryptocurrency users who simply value their privacy. Therefore, this point of view seems too biased to voice it to millions of viewers.
