Opinion: Lack of privacy is hindering the widespread adoption of blockchain in areas such as business and medicine

Odaily Planet Daily News Cardano privacy sidechain Midnight CEO Eran Barak said that transparency is one of the biggest selling points of blockchain, but it also hinders its widespread adoption and application in areas such as business and medicine. He believes that blockchain metadata can reveal a lot of information about individuals or entities, making it easy for threat actors and big data collectors to identify, track and model them. Barak gave the hypothetical example of medical records on the chain and said that if a person has no privacy, then the frequency of seeing a doctor may signal to any outside observer that he has a problem. Metadata from individuals within a wide organization can also endanger the security of the entire organization because it provides clues that allow threat actors to have a more complete understanding of the target. Barak added that privacy issues are more prominent in the era of artificial intelligence, which can collect heuristic clues about individuals or entities and simulate possible outcomes with statistical methods. Paul Brody, global blockchain leader at IT services company EY, pointed out that enterprises need privacy solutions to use blockchain or Web3 applications in their operations. Businesses, especially large enterprises and market drivers, need privacy to protect sensitive data from prying eyes as they compete for pricing strategies or commercial contracts. Failure to protect this data could lead to attacks on competitors or even a decline in global capital markets. Avidan Abitbol, ​​project director of privacy solutions at Data Ownership Protocol (DOP), echoed this view, adding that businesses need to protect data generated through daily operations such as payments, asset holdings, and workflows. (Cointelegraph)