Part 7/9:
He further discusses the misconceptions around identity and anonymity. In the Bitcoin network, miners are not entirely anonymous but operate with a higher degree of decentralization compared to permissioned systems where participants are fully identified and KYC/AML procedures are enforced.
Permisioned ledgers with known participants are vulnerable to external coercion, hacking, or key theft. If access controls are compromised, the system’s security is undermined, which starkly contrasts with Bitcoin’s approach, where compromising the network is prohibitively difficult.
Andreas stresses that permissioned blockchains—controlled by a handful of entities—are more susceptible to breaches and manipulations, especially if their governance is opaque or weakly secured.