How we shape and share our identity throughout our lives is often something we do subconsciously and incrementally. In self-development, there is a great push for us to all be our authentic selves, to be vulnerable, and to give our full heart and soul to be our best self. This can be confusing, as it forces us to be in in touch with our child’s mind but also be planning for our retirement years.

We have many different versions of ‘us’ built into our identity, and getting clear on how to separate them is one of life’s greatest challenges. In Blockchain, the core of identity is the paradox between privacy and transparency. On the one hand, Blockchain can ensure near complete privacy, but also promotes transparency. What does this mean in practice? And what does this actually mean for our digital identity and the way we will use Blockchain?

We have reached the breaking point with the network monopolies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and the like who use our data in ways that are largely uncontrolled and unknown to us. GDPR (opt-in-out privacy) is an important step in addressing this issue in the current Internet of content. To move into the Internet of value, we need a life operating environment where we can be in control of managing our identity depending on the nature of our transaction. Sometimes being transparent is best, other times privacy might make more sense. Blockchain’s zero-knowledge proofs and Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) allow us to share the smallest and most relevant pieces of ourselves without having to fully disclose everything.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s original intent was to secure the anonymity of cryptocurrency as a right for all. ‘True’ believers and investors into Blockchain believe that is the only way to attain financial freedom and create better routes for the technology’s development. Obviously, most governments are against this idea as it reduces their regulatory power and overall purpose. Where do the companies we work for sit on this issue?