Coming from adtech, user privacy was always center stage. No one wants their data exposed or mismanaged.
But it’s complicated. Entire systems were built to coordinate data collection and sharing. They were designed to protect users, but in practice they reduced privacy to clicking “I agree” on a pop-up that no one really reads or fully understands what they've consented to.
There are fundamental gaps that should change but they can’t (or won’t). Business models depend on them. That’s one of the reasons why I pivoted to a technology that reimagines data ownership, provenance, and verifiability: blockchains.
Despite scams and memecoins dominating headlines, blockchain-based technologies are advancing fast. Enterprises and banks are building. Slowly, then suddenly, people will realize their favorite apps and everyday banking rails are powered by blockchains.
At the center, again, is privacy.
But this isn’t just a “human rights” debate. It’s about understanding the difference between privacy vs confidentiality and how confidential systems can accelerate business outcomes: buying products, paying staff, and moving money.
From banks to fintechs to commerce, businesses are paying attention. Industry leaders like SWIFT’s @TomZschach and @a16zcrypto are educating the market. Even SEC's @HesterPeirce is being more vocal about it.
So are we. We’re moving the conversation forward with solutions built for everyday users and businesses: encrypted amounts, public addresses, and selective disclosure so you keep liquidity and UX while protecting sensitive data.
Imagine instant settlement without leaking commercial data with verifiability. Any Finance department would love that.
Check out the article below.
Barbell strategy for killing it in an age of superhuman AI:
Simultaneously get as close to AND stay as far away from AI as humanly possible.
1. Get close — play with AI models, use them to help you think, ask them to teach you about the world, get them to help you create, work with them to write code, understand what makes them tick, embed them into your everyday life, have fun.
2. Stay far away — learn to tell stories, make eye contact, build a team, lead with courage, connect far-flung ideas, build lifelong friendships, debate persuasively, think forbidden thoughts, handwrite ideas, confess your fears, fall in love.
Spend less time trying to master mental transformations that are purely mechanical — building spreadsheets, analyzing trades, balancing accounts, writing code by hand, following playbooks, searching for needles in haystacks. These are the emerging no-man's land, squarely the domain of AI.
Venture to the extremes. That’s where all the fun is anyway.
@WatcherGuru Actually in yuan or stablecoins. Now anyone can access tolls data onchain.
Stablecoins aren’t just about speed and low cost. This level of exposure would introduce new risks
Privacy is critical to bringing the world onchain. Institutions, consumers, and agents will all benefit.
Great to see teams like @0xfairblock building on Solana. We're excited for programmable privacy with Swig.
Fairblock is coming to Solana
We think Solana will handle a vast majority of onchain payments in the future, and we are meeting that moment by laying the confidentiality foundation.
Solana launched @solanapayments with some of the biggest names in finance. It's live and already moving $2T+ quarterly stablecoin transfers. The next step is making these payment flows safe for institutions.
Fairblock is coming to Solana to help protect against info leakage.
It's wild how fast the Fairblock community is building.
First of many: Fairsplit, built with the Fairblock Confidential SDK.
Split USDC. Reveal only what’s required.
Now live on @base.
Introducing the Stabletrust Confidential Transfer SDK
Simply add confidential transfers to an existing app or build apps for workflows (payroll, checkouts, P2P transfers, agentic payments, etc.) where amounts stay private and disclosure is supported for compliance when needed.
This is the first AI cut.
And it will send shockwaves.
Remember: Jack is one of the greatest founders of all time. He created this platform that we’re all on, and has been early to many technological shifts. And Block was doing very well as a business.
So, for him to cut 40% of headcount in this way is a signal to everyone in tech: get good now. Become indispensable. Work nights and weekends. Learn the AI tools and raise your game. Or you might not make the cut, as an employee or as a company.
I know. That sucks. But capitalism is natural selection. The market is unforgiving, because you are the market. After all, it’s not like you’re buying some random gallon of milk from the store; you’re always buying the best product at the best price.
So too for apps: your customers are always installing the best piece of code they can get. And because AI is going to create new winners, if you aren’t the best in your market, someone may become better with AI. Particularly with the new agentic workflows.
To be clear: Block’s severance is generous by any measure. 20 weeks of pay, six months of health insurance and vested equity, all of that goes far beyond any typical package. Jack did his level best to cushion the disruption. The laid off are a temporarily unfortunate class, as opposed to a permanent underclass.
But had he not leaned into the AI transition, he might have had to lay off more people, slowly, and over time, as faster competitors went after his market share.
How would they do that? Sure, AI isn’t a panacea by any means, but the closer you are to software engineering the more aggressively you need to embrace agentic workflows. The AI companies are already doing that, and places like Stripe, Shopify, Coinbase, and now Block are pushing hard on this area.
There will be overcorrection. But the fundamental technical innovation is real. And you need to either disrupt yourself or get disrupted.
if your friends aren’t talking about:
- claude code
- creatine
- openclaw
- looksmaxxing
- ai agents
- taste
- prediction markets
- mac minis
you should be grateful & cherish those people
Building incorruptible markets means protecting businesses moving money onchain from unnecessary exposure that invites avoidable exploits.
It's about better outcomes without accepting transparency as the cost of using blockchains.
How confidentiality delivers value day to day:
Stablecoins offer instant settlement and programmable money. But they also leak business operations onchain.
Every treasury move, payroll run, or supplier payout becomes a signal competitors can track and exploit.
This is exactly why we partnered with @0xfairblock and are bringing this to Noble’s EVM.
Confidential transactions that settle on public blockchain rails, preserve UX, and ensure data reliability for blue-chip partners.
https://t.co/JHSRtg1mHg
Fairblock is building usable, compliant privacy for real financial workflows.
By making confidential transfers fast and production-ready across major ecosystems, they’re unlocking a critical next chapter for onchain payments and treasury ops.
Protected by Privy.
Usable Privacy: The Last 1000x
Fairblock and Privy (@privy_io) are making confidential transfers actually usable: fast onboarding, one-click transfers, no extra wallets, and no steep learning curve typical of privacy products.