After staying in the circle for a long time, it's easy to fall into a cognitive trap:
Everyone assumes that "transparency" is an advantage.
But if you throw this question to ordinary users, their response is usually:
"Why do others need to see my transactions?"
It's very real and also very heart-wrenching.
Transparency is a tool for developers, but a risk for users
On-chain transparency is indeed very satisfying.
You can:
Check the flow of funds
Watch the whale operations
Analyze project funding pools
But these are more from an analyst's perspective.
Once you switch to the perspective of an ordinary user, things are completely different.
For example:
You bought a certain coin and your friend saw it.
Your asset size is marked by on-chain analysis tools.
Even your address can be tagged.
These issues are not as "decentralized romantic" as they seem.
It actually feels a bit like:
You live in a fully transparent room.
So the question is not "Is transparency good?" but "To what extent is transparency good?"
I gradually realized that the problem with blockchain is not transparency itself.
But rather:
Lack of choice.
On most chains, you only have one option:
Fully public.
There is no option for "partial hiding".
But the real world does not operate this way.
In the real world, we have actually been practicing "selective transparency".
When you go to the bank for business:
The bank knows your assets.
Regulatory agencies can check.
But ordinary people cannot see.
When you do business:
Partners know about the transaction.
Taxation can be audited.
Competitors cannot see.
This is actually a form of "layered transparency".
While traditional public chains are "fully public".
This is also why I started paying attention to Midnight Network.
From what I understand, what Midnight Network wants to do is to bring back this "choice" to blockchain.
It doesn't mean that everything is hidden.
But rather to allow you to decide:
Which data is public?
Which data is hidden?
When to disclose.
The core technology behind this design is still zero-knowledge proof, but the focus is not on technology, but on control.
This point is actually very critical: users begin to master the initiative of data.
On many existing chains, once you initiate a transaction, it defaults to:
Everyone can see.
And in Midnight's line of thinking:
You can prove that the transaction is legitimate.
But there is no need to expose all information.
What does this mean?
It means users can finally do something normal in the real world on-chain:
Choosing not to be observed.
Another point that many people overlook: privacy is actually closely related to adoption.
Many people ask:
Why hasn't Web3 entered the mainstream?
There are many reasons, but one that is rarely mentioned is:
The privacy experience is too poor.
You let an ordinary user use on-chain applications, but at the same time tell them:
All your actions are public.
This is basically equivalent to discouraging them.
The token logic of Midnight is also related to this experience.
In this network, the core asset is $NIGHT, while the actual execution of privacy operations relies on DUST.
One benefit of this design is:
Users do not need to face market fluctuations directly with every operation.
In simple terms:
Use NIGHT for long-term holding.
Use generated resources for consumption.
This is a smoother experience than the traditional "buy coins and pay" experience.
I increasingly feel that the next wave of growth is not in "more complexity", but in "more human-like".
Early blockchain products are often driven by an engineer's mindset.
Emphasizing:
No matter how advanced the technology is.
How complex the structure is.
But what ordinary users care about is:
Is it usable?
Is it safe?
Will it expose oneself?
These issues seem very "basic", but they determine whether users are willing to stay.
Ultimately, this matter is actually very simple.
No one really likes being monitored.
Even in a decentralized world.
So if blockchain is to be truly used by more people,
What it needs to solve is not just performance issues.
There is another more human issue:
Can users choose their own privacy boundaries?
Midnight Network seems to be trying to answer this question.
Sometimes, technological progress is not about doing more things, but about giving the choice back to people.
This point is actually quite critical.