Rebuilding Trust in 2024 - The Imperative Role of Privacy in Crypto's Future

The crypto industry stands at a crossroads. Following a challenging year marked by internal struggles, many within our industry are grappling with disillusionment or a sense of uncertainty. Instances of deceitful practices, the negative attributes of certain cultural trends, and internal conflicts have significantly damaged trust and credibility not only in the mainstream public’s eyes, but also internally.

The media often focuses on scams and fraud, overshadowing the true potential of the innovative technology we are building. This has turned the industry into a target for skepticism and ridicule, despite its initial goal of improving financial systems and the Internet for everyone. We're navigating an existential crisis, which has made potential newcomers—builders, users, and investors— more hesitant to engage with the industry.

The question is, how does the crypto industry rebuild trust? My argument is that privacy plays a big role in that answer.

Privacy – Not a Secret Society

People might balk at the word "privacy," but I'm not advocating for tools that enable criminals to obscure the origins of their funds to launder billions into funding weapons of mass destruction. No, unfortunately, that's still the realm of fiat money. What I'm saying is that we're not going to get institutions to adopt cryptocurrencies if we can all see all the details of their balance sheet or if they just bought ten million in dogecoin. This is the difference between privacy and secrecy.

Privacy protects personal information from third-party threats, while secrecy shuns reasonable transparency for non-security-based reasons. By championing privacy, we can not only better protect user data but also foster an ecosystem conducive to regulatory oversight so we can actually achieve mass adoption. Embracing this fundamental way of thinking will rebuild trust, fortify the industry, and ensure its resilience in the face of external pressures and internal divisions.

It's not just about money

Privacy doesn't just apply to our finances but to other data as well. We live in an era where consent is a primary concern in every facet of our culture except when it comes to our personal data. Surveillance Capitalism is now one of the cornerstones of our shared global economy, and most people act as if they are oblivious to how deep the hooks are set.

Everyone now knows one of the most contentious financial practices that is deeply ingrained into all our modern lives is the concept of credit scores. Financial institutions use proprietary algorithms to assess creditworthiness, leading to profiling and discrimination based on personal data. This affects loan approvals, interest rates, or even in some cases, the ability to get a job. Worst of all, we all must engage with it, there is no way to opt out. Having no credit history can often be seen as worse than having bad credit. The erosion of privacy in this fashion illustrates how personal information can be collected, stored, and used without adequate consent, often for profit, control, or social-engineering purposes.

It's imperative to establish regulations and ethical frameworks that safeguard individuals' privacy rights while still allowing for technological advancements and business innovation without being able to exploit certain fundamental human rights. This is achieved through targeted transparency, which is enabled by blockchain technology with certain guardrails and user-controlled protections.

The Transparency/Privacy Conundrum

For many years, the crypto industry has prided itself on its commitment to transparency and open-source principles. Modeled after the radical invention of Bitcoin, the ethos was to make everything transparent, immutable, self-sovereign, and most important of all—accessible. This was revolutionary, allowing even hobbyists and amateurs to wield the same powerful tools as institutional players.

It was a thrilling notion—a financial ecosystem where information was freely available, and anyone was welcome to engage with the market on equal terms. This radical transparency had its advantages, especially for the grassroots enthusiasts who flocked to crypto early on. Yet soon, the downside of this transparency became evident.

The industry's commitment to transparency inadvertently became a liability as larger institutions eyed the space. With every move visible on the blockchain, competitors could monitor each other closely, making the playing field an anxious, chaotic mess. For those accustomed to TradFi systems, this was a radical departure from the norm and an added layer of fear that dissuaded their involvement.

Centralized custodial services, such as those provided by Coinbase, emerged as a compromise. These entities, while more approachable to traditional finance, contradicted the narrative of self-custody intrinsic to crypto. Thus, institutional adoption became increasingly challenged by many of the born and bred ‘crypto purists’ and was mostly despised because they saw these entities as diametrically opposed to the ethos of decentralization and personal control.

Yet, it is crucial to acknowledge the merits of custodial solutions as they offer a user experience vastly superior to most DeFi protocols. For institutions familiar with Web2, these custodial solutions are the height of accessibility and user-friendly UX. You can’t bank the unbanked if they don’t understand how to engage with your system.

Privacy Makes DeFi Usable to a Mass Audience

A focus on privacy as a solution will bridge the gap between TradFi and DeFi. Privacy is key to empowering institutional investors and everyday users with the means to transact securely without showing "all their cards" and putting themselves and their companies at risk as targets for financial theft.

The adoption of privacy measures kicks open the door for institutional-grade users to branch out from the big centralized players. These entities, with substantial resources and regulatory obligations, can now participate in true DeFi without compromising their requirements for data security and confidentiality.

Advanced privacy tools, such as applications powered by zero-knowledge proofs, can also enhance compliance by only revealing what absolutely needs to be known to meet regulatory requirements. This safeguards individuals’ financial data from surveillance while also keeping the industry free of bad actors.

The Pragmatic Path Forward

As we approach a new year, let's remember that the core ethos of blockchain technology is not at odds with privacy. Rather, privacy, when done correctly, is the natural evolution of the industry's commitment to individual freedom, data security, and transparency. Privacy measures are not designed to conceal wrongdoing but to protect individuals and institutions from the unnecessary risks that have plagued the crypto industry. By advocating for privacy as a unifying force and basic human right, we ensure that the fundamental principles of openness and decentralization continue to guide the industry's trajectory and help our solutions become more accessible to a broader audience of individuals and institutions.

Parker McCurley is the founder and CEO at Decent DAO