That too. Also having to download a node or connect to a remote node.
You don't need to run your own node to use Monero. Remote nodes’ privacy issues have been vastly overblown from the Chainalysis video that was a pure PR stunt for people to believe that you need to become Mr. Robot to use XMR privately.
This “poisoned node” argument gets pushed by privacy enthusiasts who take the threat model of a serious Dark Web target and apply it to the average user. Gh0p pulled the same trick on OffshoreCorpTalk because he thought it made him sound smart.
If you're running your own "extra-curricular" activities on the Dark Web, then sure, you should probably run your own Monero node. Add a hypervisor, a virtual machine and Whonix while you're at it.
But do you know what actually got the Colombians in that Chainalysis PR video screwed? They forgot to turn on their VPN one day. Literally, that was the smoking gun that gave away their location.
So if you're the average Joe moving a couple of grand (and are sober enough to switch on your VPN), how much time and effort do you think it takes Chainalysis to identify their Monero targets? Their own video said two years of investigations. Why would anyone spend that level of money and time trying to trace your transaction… if you’re not hacking some Bybit and moving billions?
Even if you "forgot" to declare a few thousand dollars of your XMR for taxes, the cost of assigning staff and analysts would be completely disproportionate to the amount involved.
Any crypto needs to be as easy and instant as an Apple Pay or debit card contactless payment.
You're right that a retail payment needs to feel instant to the customer.
But you're treating transaction speed as though it's the main obstacle to crypto adoption. Your own LTC example shows that it isn't.
If LTC is already fast, and by your account, user-friendly… why isn’t it being used left and right in ordinary shops? Hell, Solana is even faster (and also user-friendly)... so why isn't every business using it?
You can't buy milk with Monero or Bitcoin then wait for the blocks to clear, and god help us if the transaction gets stuck in the blockchain. I'll have to wait at the store for ages until it clears. Crypto needs to improve its user experience. LTC is the closest I've had to user friendliness.
Your card payment isn't finally settled while you're standing at the checkout either. The terminal gives the shop enough assurance to approve the sale, and the actual settlement happens afterward.
The practical difference is that businesses already operate in fiat. Almost every customer pays in it, the money lands directly in the business bank account, and it can immediately be used for suppliers and other expenses. Also accounting systems are already built around fiat, so there is no additional bookkeeping, conversion step or exchange-rate risk between receiving the payment and off-ramping it.
So why would a coffee shop take on all those additional headaches just to process a handful of crypto payments?
Because let’s be real, 95% of consumers are sheep, and they’ll stick with whatever payment method is government approved.
Maybe the point is that uncompromised crypto will never be the Satoshi version of digital cash. We may absolutely end up seeing fast crypto transfers, but I bet it’ll be a digital gulag and the only coin that will be “chosen” will be some USDT or USDC. Both can be frozen, both can be programmable and surveillable.
Not exactly the “peer to peer” digital cash that we’re fantasizing about.
