Over the summer I worked as data analyst with Network & Operations at Sandia National Labs (SNL). My supervisor invited me to a two day event held at the labs. A data science conference took place with various presentations about the research and outcomes of multiple projects utilizing data analytic methods.
The presentation that stuck with me the most was when I witnessed the Digital Forensics or analysis tool that had been developed by SNL. It was about an hour and was broadcasted to us at the SNL labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico from the labs located in Livermore, California. Law enforcement has used this tool successfully to track transactions and users (wallet addresses) through the blockchain the fabric of Bitcoin.
The coin derives some its value directly from the security and privacy of the currency, which you could imagine lit many red-flags in my mind during the presentation. I quickly started to think of all those individuals avoiding the Internal Revenue Service or sending remittances that will eventually be seized. I am not sure how long it will be before the coin will be utterly useless against the governments of the world.
This has led me to the question of what will be the superior coin?
Monero, Dash, ESO, Litecoin etc..??
Or are my thoughts out of place and Bitcoin will continue just fine with deriving its value from a decentralized peer to peer network without reckless central bankers and their monetary inflationary tactics.
Only time will tell.
-DBF