Oh but they're not quite the same. Blacklists are easier to work-around. Mix your coins enough and there will be no meaningful taint anymore.

Whitelists, OTOH, are an entirely different matter. Authoritarian governments may force every business in their jurisdiction to only accept money from the whitelist. Everything not whitelisted should be taxed or even seized. That's the real danger.

Since I'm replying to the bright mind behind Zerocoin, I'll use the opportunity to ask: does it make sense to talk about whitelisting Zerocoin transactions/addresses? I confess I tried to understand how your system works, but I'm just too dumb to actually get it.


Whitelists do not need to be public.