Anonymity in Web3 and NFT

because Web3 Many of the core spirit of is premised on decentralized ownership and privacy , Anonymous and pseudonymous identities are quite common . Following the anonymous identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of bitcoin , Many people in the cryptocurrency community now operate as their own alternative identities .

  Although some people do this in order to maintain privacy or strive for self sovereignty , But others just see it as an interesting way to participate in cryptocurrency culture .

But not everyone thinks so . When it comes to NFT when , Pseudonym and anonymity are causing considerable controversy .

A pseudonym is the ability to act in a recognizable way , But identification itself masks your true identity . Most choose to use fuzzy ENS Address and PFP Avatar for operation NFT Community members , They all confuse the false with the true .

today , Blockchain is completely pseudonymous . The identity of the user is represented by the public key of his wallet , Is a string of letters and numbers . But technically , By tracking financial transactions related to their wallets , And put together any personal information they choose to publish publicly , Sometimes you can get to know the people behind the account .

On the other hand , Pseudonym and anonymity , It means that a person cannot be traced or recognized by any name at all . for example , On a blog " visitor " Comment on . without IP Tracking or back end GPS data , There is no way to know who wrote this comment .

Anonymization is based on encrypted payment and NFT Core Web3 A feature of , Helps heal Web2 Some disadvantages of times Internet company . With NFT and Web3 It's becoming mainstream , It is a new economic and legal problem for companies operating under pseudonyms to handle huge amounts of capital .

In the traditional business world , The company's CEO Or the founders use their real names instead of aliases . For public companies , Executives must refer to... In SEC disclosures and reports .

For private companies , Banking regulations and KYC The law requires that banking services only serve companies with real information accounts . These laws are partly designed to prevent terrorists 、 Criminals do business in the United States .

According to the blockchain data organization Chainalysis Recent reports , It tracks at least the value 442 Billion dollars of cryptocurrency sent to ERC-721 and ERC-1155 Found after the contract ,NFT The market may also have something similar to the encryption market [ Clean up the deal ] and [ Money laundering ] Behavior , That is to say, the transaction is washed away and artificially improved NFT Value and through purchase NFT Money laundering .

although BAYC The two co founders of Solano and Aronow There is no particularly dangerous history , however , If in other NFT In the series , The founder has a criminal history or extreme political tendencies , Is it possible for investors to regret in NFT It costs a lot of money ？

Director of the U.S. Office of the transparency advocacy group Gary Kalman Think ：“ It shouldn't be difficult to know who you're dealing with , This is a very basic thing .

Although venture capital firms can learn more about who is really behind a company , But ordinary NFT The holder can not .

Without transparency and openness , So ordinary people who can't do due diligence like big companies , There will be problems .”

A venture capital firm focused on encryption Volt Capital Partners Soona Amhaz Think , Anonymity may bring some benefits .

Different from the traditional way of starting a business , It frees the founders from investors' perceptions of their appearance 、 University one is graduated from 、 social stratum 、 The judgment of sex or race .

For the Creator , Anonymity can add a layer of value to your work , Cause a sense of mystery all over the world , Encourage further consumer demand .