Privacy


Opinion

Who Really Benefits From CBDCs? It’s Not the Public

The only people benefitting from central bank digital currencies are lobbyists, tech companies and, yes, central banks, say the Cato Institute’s Nicholas Anthony and Norbert J. Michel.

(Ryan Quintal/Unsplash, Modified by CoinDesk)

Consensus Magazine

StarkNet Aims to Enhance Scalability, Privacy and Security on Ethereum

One of the first projects to integrate the intriguing new mechanism of account abstraction has already gotten Visa on board to secure payments processing for crypto transactions. That’s why StarkNet is a 2023 Project to Watch.

(Rachel Sun/CoinDesk)

Opinion

AI Boosters Would Sacrifice Humanity for a Simulacra - as Long as They're in Control

AI boosterism and associated “long-termist” ideas may be a threat to your privacy, property and civil rights.

Eliezer Yudkowsky's "AI Safety" movement has gazed into the distant future - and decided you shouldn't be allowed to have privacy in the present. (Wikimedia Commons)

Consensus Magazine

Privacy-Preserving Payments Shouldn't Be 'Niche', Monero Contributor Justin Ehrenhofer Says

Cake Wallet's vice president of operations discusses privacy in a post-Tornado Cash world, global data policies and Monero's "technical debt" ahead of Consensus 2023.

U.S. lawmakers must prevent the further erosion of our privacy rights by defending  privacy-preserving tech and passing laws against unreasonable and constant digital surveillance. (Chris Yang, Unsplash)

Tech

New Privacy Blockchain Namada Proposes First-Ever Shielded Airdrop to Zcash

Namada is a layer 1 blockchain for multichain privacy, according to a release provided to CoinDesk.

Airdrop (Viaframe/Getty Images)

Opinion

Anti-TikTok Politicking Shows Worst Tendencies of U.S. Pols

The RESTRICT Act and other attempts to ring fence foreign tech would disrupt the open internet at the same time crypto is under threat.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons, modified by CoinDesk)

Policy

EU Lawmakers Vote in Favor of Payment Limits on Anonymous Crypto Wallets

Crypto rules form part of a money-laundering overhaul supported by the European Parliament Committees

The European Parliament (Laura Zulian Photography/Getty Images)

Consensus Magazine

Regulatory Pressure Did Not Shut Down Privacy Tool, Aztec Founders Say

Despite U.S. efforts to sanction Tornado Cash and other crypto privacy tools, Aztec says it shut down its Ethereum zero-knowledge tools for commercial reasons.

(Aztec Network)

Consensus Magazine

Marta Belcher: Reframing Privacy for the Digital Age

Somehow we accept that financial transactions get turned over to the government by default without a warrant, says civil liberties lawyer Marta Belcher, a speaker at this year's Consensus festival.

(Ian Suarez/CoinDesk)

Tech

Privacy-Focused Wasabi Wallet Reinstates ‘Coin Control’ Feature in Latest Software Upgrade

The feature was reinstated after advanced users complained about the constraints of Wasabi’s automated version of coin control, called “privacy control,” introduced in a previous upgrade.

(Flavio Coelho/Getty Images)