- Data privacy is a serious issue in the status quo.
- Privacy-focused crypto projects are emerging to solve the concern.
- Some of these projects include Partisia Blockchain, Safle, Zcash, Manta, PhotoChromic, and Monero.
Data privacy is a serious concern in today’s internet consuming generation; most interactions and financial services have shifted to the digital ecosystem. This paradigm shift peaked at the onset of the covid pandemic following adjustments to accommodate remote working and virtual ecosystems.
While consumers remain willing to give up their data for a more personalized internet experience, there are growing concerns about how big tech has been using this data. According to a survey by digital security and credential issuance firm Entrust, about 79% of the respondents do not trust established global brands with their personal information.
As the debate on data privacy continues to heat up, one can only help but notice emerging solutions in the crypto ecosystem. Bitcoin, the pioneer crypto asset, is built on a public blockchain which means that anyone can trace transactions based on the on-chain recorded data – this takes away the privacy nature that most assume Bitcoin to have.
That said, there are some upcoming blockchain ecosystems whose primary focus is to introduce privacy features for the crypto industry and other sectors. This year has been particularly eventful for projects building on privacy solutions, with stakeholders predicting they might be a big hit as mainstream investors adopt cryptocurrencies.
The next section of this article will highlight privacy-focused crypto projects that are painting a picture of the future of data privacy and digital ecosystems.
1. Partisia Blockchain
Partisia Blockchain is a Web 3 distributed infrastructure whose fundamentals are based on the principles of privacy, trust, transparency and fast transaction finality. Unlike Bitcoin’s public blockchain, Partisia provides developers with a privacy-oriented ecosystem through a combination of blockchain technology and multiparty computation (MPC).
At its core, Partisia seeks to expose stakeholders to the DeFi ecosystem without compromising their data privacy. The project enjoys the support of multiple VCs, including Ausvic Capital, P2P.org, Kosmos, and Bitscale. So far, Partisia Blockchain has raised a total of $36 million, focusing on scaling the privacy-oriented platform.
With Partisia’s blockchain network, developers can leverage the MPC software to deploy Dapp smart contracts that facilitate on-chain operations such as governance voting. The platform also features wallet extensions on popular browsers like Firefox and Chrome. As it stands, Partisia users can bridge to Ethereum, although the platform plans to integrate with more networks in future.
2. Safle
Safle is another privacy-focused project that is using blockchain technology to actualize the concept of decentralized identities. This decentralized blockchain identity wallet challenges the long-standing centralized approach of governing user identities. At the very core, Safle introduces an ID feature and vault; the former enables the creation and onboarding of decentralized identities while the latter safely secures a user’s private key.
Safle’s decentralized identity wallet is built through EVM compatible smart contracts which means that users can access several chains, including Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Polygon. Additionally, Safle features Web 3 development tools, enabling developers to integrate with the SafleKeyless SDK and SafleNode. With these tools, DeFi stakeholders can access multiple ecosystems while using the SafleID and SafleVault for authentication and data protection, respectively.
As for the platform’s governance, Safle follows a DAO model powered by its native token $SAFLE. This token also enables other activities such as staking rewards and the payment of network fees. Notably, Safle raised $900k in its seed funding round, which attracted prominent investors from the crypto space, including Woodstock fund and Draper Dragon Fund.
3. Zcash
Zcash is one of the first privacy-built cryptocurrencies, it was developed by a group of scientists from John Hopkins, MIT and other recognized scientific and academic institutions. Interestingly, this privacy coin was originally built on the Bitcoin codebase with the only difference being a privacy feature option.
As mentioned earlier, Bitcoin’s blockchain broadcasts the transactions on a public ledger, allowing anyone to view the history and information related to the sender and receiver. Zcash takes a different approach; the coin’s base infrastructure uses zero-knowledge proofs to provide users with the option of shielding their addresses.
As such, Zcash users can send and receive ZEC tokens without revealing any information about the transaction, sender or receiver. That said, Zcash also offers selective disclosure features, allowing users to share some of the transaction details for audit purposes and compliance where
4. Manta Network
Manta Network is an interoperable and privacy-focused protocol built on the substrate infrastructure. This protocol is designed to enable crypto users to access various DeFi protocols while preserving their data privacy. Manta’s privacy feature is built as a Layer-1 solution coupled with zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKS) and Growth 16 proofs to obfuscate DeFi addresses hence introducing anonymity.
The protocol leverages a process dubbed ‘minting’ to make tokens private. Ideally, users can initiate a coin minting transaction by depositing a crypto asset such as Polkadot (DOT); in return, Manta generates a privacy-preserving version of the deposited coin. Though a relatively new innovation, Manta has attracted the interest of prominent VCs such as ParaFi Capital and CoinFund. The project raised $5.5 million in its latest funding round.
Other notable milestones include a $28.8 million token sale in the recently concluded Manta Squad Game token generation event. 80 million $MANTA tokens were sold during this event, representing 8% of the total token supply.
5. PhotoChromic
PhotoChromic is building the next generation of digital identities through Non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This protocol aggregates biometric proof of life such as personal documents and facial features to create secure digital identities through blockchain technology. Anyone can create a digital identity on PhotoChromic by embedding personal information on a tokenized NFT. Notably, these NFTs are universally addressable and programmable, providing more opportunities for additional functionality.
The PhotoChromic digital identity model follows a decentralized architecture which means there is no single source of authority. Contrary to the approach taken by centralized parties such as governments and corporations, PhotoChromic leverages a blockchain-based identity model. Therefore, users who create digital identities through this protocol have an option to make their personal information public or hide it while interacting with various Web 3.0 protocols.
With the project still in its early stages, PhotoChromic is set to mint 10,000 generative art pieces dubbed ‘PhotoSapien’. Prospects who receive these tokens will form the first PhotoChromic DAO, setting the pace for a fully decentralized ecosystem. The registration for this expected mint is currently ongoing; prospects are required to connect a metamask wallet and provide an email address to join the waitlist.
6. Monero
Monero has been a popular go-to privacy coin for hackers and malicious players for quite some time. This privacy-coin is a fork of Bytecoin (a 2014 era coin); it is designed to anonymize critical details associated with a particular transaction. For instance, hackers using Monero can hide details such as the sender’s and receiver’s addresses as well as the amount of funds being transferred.
Despite being associated with illegal activities, Monero has played a big role in exposing the crypto ecosystem to privacy solutions. This privacy-built coin offers users a downloadable wallet where one can transfer the Monero (XMR) token to start operating anonymously. However, it might be a challenge accessing these coins on some centralized exchanges following privacy coin bans by governments such as South Korea’s.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of CoinQuora. No information in this article should be interpreted as investment advice. CoinQuora encourages all users to do their own research before investing in cryptocurrencies.