I think one of the biggest mistakes we’ve made in crypto is assuming that more transparency always means more value.That seemed right to me long enough.Transparency, open to all, whatever you saw made one feel trusted in a way that the traditional systems lacked. Still the more I am exposed to the way things are in the real world, the more I am starting to suspect that we were being shown half the story.
A couple of days before, I was assisting someone to establish a small online business. There was no complex stuff to do but to make simple payments, track the order, and deal with the suppliers. At some time, we discussed the possibility of making things easier with blockchain. It was a good idea initially. Quick dealings, no paper trails, all verifiable.Then this question occurred. What is going to happen when all can see everything? Whole tone of the conversation was shifted by that question.
It is not everything that should be public since it is a real business. The prices of suppliers, their profit levels, customer relations these are the things you guard, not aired. When all that comes out there, then it does not make efficiency. It creates pressure. The competitors receive information and they are not supposed to. Negotiations become harder. Decisions are uncovered prior to settling.
At that point, I began to imagine Midnight Network once again. It is not only the technology that is outstanding about it. It’s the idea behind it. Rather than deciding on complete transparency and complete privacy, it attempts to establish a compromise. Something more practical. A little more like the way people work.They refer to it as rational privacy.
Simply, it is that you are able to demonstrate something with not knowing all that is behind it. The system enables checking without complete disclosure by using the zero knowledge proofs. Rather than displaying all your data, you just display the necessary data. Such a little movement makes a difference.
With that business arrangement, it might be an establishment of a payment without revealing the amount. It may include the check of a contract without showing all the information in it. It also puts the user back in control rather than making everything open to it. But control is what has been lacking.
The other aspect that I also find interesting is the way Midnight organizes its system. The main token is NIGHT which remains open and visible. That makes the network transparent where it must be. However, simultaneously, possessing it produces DUST that are utilized in personal smart contract transactions. The privacy layer is therefore not a substitute of transparency. It works alongside it. Such a balance is more realistic.
It cannot be one extreme or the other because, when you look at the way the real world works, it is never just that. Not all bank transactions are published. Businesses do not disclose all business deals. Even people do not reveal all the details in their financial life. There is some form of filtering. It is not something Blockchain was constructed with.
It emphasized on openness, and this was reasonable initially. It assisted in the creation of confidence in a new system. However, at present, with the space increasing, the same openness is beginning to become restrictive in some respects. This is particularly true to actual adoption.
Flexibility is required by businesses, institutions and even regular users. They require the systems which allow them to have control over what to share and what they keep personal. In the absence of this, it cannot be easy to apply blockchain in real life. Midnight appears to be aware of that gap.
Naturally, being able to comprehend a problem does not necessarily mean to solve it. The project is yet long way to go. It must demonstrate that the technology is smooth, developers use it and the technology is used in real life situations. But at least it is posing the right questions. And after a while that is where it really begins.
I continue remembering that small business talk. Originally, blockchain became an ideal answer. By the end, it felt incomplete. Not because the concept was inaccurate but because it was not entirely consistent with the functioning of people. It is what makes Midnight intriguing to watch. It is not attempting to have the world adjust to blockchain. It is attempting to adjust blockchain to the world.
@MidnightNetwork #night $NIGHT
