Last week at the convenience store, a big sister in front of me had her phone unlocked, and next to her payment code were several WeChat messages.
Her husband sent: “I looked at your mom's health check report, the values don't seem right.”
At least three or four people behind her noticed.
She didn't realize. I didn't remind her—because it was already too late to remind.
This incident reminded me of a term: data transparency. It sounds impressive, but in plain language, it means—what you don't want to show others, they just happen to see.
I thought seriously about it later; actually, many scenarios are like this. Which neighborhood you take a taxi to, which restaurant you ordered takeout from, the flow of every single penny in your bank statement… You don’t want to hide these things, but you also assume they shouldn’t be visible to everyone.
But the logic of current public chains is exactly the opposite. When you transfer money, the amount, address, time, all hang on the chain, and anyone can check.
Some people say this is great, open and transparent. But think about it, your purchase price for doing business, your relationship with suppliers, why should competitors get to see that for free?
Later, I came across a project called @MidnightNetwork ; its logic is quite simple: private data exists on your own device and does not go on-chain. The chain only leaves a zero-knowledge proof, proving “this transaction is compliant,” but does not expose specific content.
What if the auditor wants to check? What if the tax authorities need to verify?
It has a “selective disclosure”—you can show verifiable records to specific authorized parties, completely invisible to others.
It’s not fully transparent, nor fully anonymous. It’s up to you to decide who to show.
The messages that the big sister had shouldn’t be seen by those waiting in line behind her. How your money moves in the bank shouldn’t be observed by the whole world.
Some information, others don’t need to know—it’s just not necessary.
This has nothing to do with whether you have a guilty conscience. This is about basic boundaries.