Publishing something on an immutable public ledger has always made me somewhat uneasy.

A question I heard at a conference a few years ago has stuck with me.

“Data the new oil or the new asbestos?”

The earliest Blockchain technologies identified privacy as a potential barrier to using a public Blockchain to record financial transactions. Coins like Zcash, Dash and Monero have addressed this early on and and are continually evolving.

Web 3

Content based Blockchains like Hive still have not addressed this and it may be a key differentiator for Web3 based applications in the future.

Dont Give me your Data!

Today Aleo a Silicon Based Valley Startup, announced that they just raised $200m in Series B funding. They have built a technology based on Zero Knowledge Proof Cryptography which enables Users to interact with a Blockchain without losing control of their data. This is a really interesting project.

https://www.aleo.org/post/bringing-zero-knowledge-to-the-world

Zero Knowledge Cryptography

This is a branch of Cryptography which allows you to prove something without sharing your data. Data is fundamental to most apps and finding a way to process it without losing control would be a huge leap forward.

Beyond Satoshis use of Cryptography to chain transactions together (13 years ago), most of the developments in Crypto have been more around governance, and ecosystems around the Blockchains rather than Fundamental Technological Innovations.
Zero Knowledge Smart Blockchain Applications could be just the next big enabler for Crypto.

The Future of the Internet

An open question for me is What type of Applications could use it?. In Aleos blog they describe their vision for the future of the Internet.

"we can enjoy the internet’s benefits of global connection without paying the invisible cost of our privacy."
https://www.aleo.org/post/how-zero-knowledge-is-rebalancing-the-internet

How do you think this technology could be incorporated to a Web3 platform like Hive?

Will Privacy and Data be the new oil (for individuals) or the new asbestos for Blockchain Projects?