Privacy can turn the Tide for Libra

Tide have been called the 'antidote to the Facebook business model', but while we certainly aren't expecting Facebook to adopt the Tide protocol, we do feel it's a model that will ultimately keep consumer data fueled business in business. In the more immediate term, here's some thoughts on why embracing a privacy protocol like Tide is critical to the success of Libra.

Background

With its significant resources, corporate support and Facebook’s large user population, Libra has the potential to become the first blockchain network and digital currency capable of gaining mainstream adoption.

Having failed in the past with multiple payment systems, Facebook have now turned to blockchain and cryptocurrency to address some of the previous shortcomings.

Blockchain opens up potential value of the new currency beyond just monetary function, but also comes attached with the notorious technical and user experience barriers that have so far limited mainstream adoption of the technology.

Despite their market dominance, Facebook’s track record on Privacy has it at a disadvantage in gaining the trust of both consumers, merchants and regulators, who’s confidence is required to gain critical mass with this new initiative.

They also face stiff competition from Chinese and other state initiatives aimed at undermining Libra, so time to market and quality of user experience will be paramount.

How does a privacy protocol benefit Libra?

Tide is a not-for-profit, community-driven foundation charged with the stewardship and mass adoption of the Tide Protocol. The Tide protocol is an open source blockchain based privacy framework that removes the liability of holding personal data for businesses and hands control of sensitive consumer information to the consumer. It would add a new layer on top of the contemplated functionality and utility of the Libra network and coin.

Tide’s privacy protocol can take the sting out of Facebook’s poor privacy history by offering an unprecedented level of data protection, transparency and control to end users of their sensitive data. This has the potential for Libra to redesign the privacy narrative in the press. It may also remove some of the primary concerns scrutinized by the U.S. congress and refocus their attention on some of the strategic advantages in seeing the project succeed.

Tides multiple technological breakthroughs remove the major technical and user experience barriers inhibiting blockchain adoption by a mainstream audience. The technology not only allows for seamless and ubiquitous interactions with the blockchain but also adds significant new utility to the Calibra wallet, Libra network (including node operators) and the cryptocurrency itself.

Privacy-Centric KYC / AML

• Poor association of Facebook and privacy breaches with a new requirement to collect and entrust further sensitive personal data in order to obtain a Libra wallet, is attracting relentless bad press and could prove an inhibitor to reaching critical mass.
• The Calibra wallet is closed source and the data collected centralized, providing even further resistance for adoption.
• Tide could help remove the sting of the Facebook association with the project, by providing an unprecedented new layer of security, privacy protection, control and certainty around any sensitive data shared by individuals — putting consumers in control of their data and providing transparency on how it’s used.
• The data would be protected from breach and the framework eases compliance with privacy legislation, such as GDPR and the incoming CCPA.

Tide’s technology has already solved the biggest technical challenges, which could not only make interaction with the Libra network ubiquitous and seamless, but adds a whole new level of utility and traffic to the network:

Decentralized Wallet

• Unlike today’s crypto wallets, which require end users to install new software on each device they plan to perform wallet functions, Tide have built a secure, decentralized wallet, which offers portability of wallet access to any device without the need to install software, apps or browser plugins.
• It also enables a wallet to be seamlessly integrated into any user experience, even a website, meaning a Libra wallet can be built into any 3rd party products or services without impacting the user experience. This would significantly improve its popularity among merchants and end users alike.

Decentralized Password Authentication

Today, authentication is either:

• Centralized: In which case reliance on a ‘trusted’ central entity to both securely store authentication information and perform the role of determining whether authentication has been completed successfully, which creates a central point of failure. This is proving increasingly costly with frequent data breaches and is undermining consumer trust — in particular when it comes to crypto where breaches and thefts from centralized crypto exchanges have resulted in the loss of billions of dollars and put some exchanges out of business altogether. Centralized authentication completely undermines the purpose of a blockchain, where the end user should by design retain sole and full control of their account.
• Complex and cumbersome: Authentication via current crypto wallets requires the responsibility of cryptographic key management that’s complex and unfamiliar to a mainstream online user base. Common features such as ‘forgot my password’ are not possible without compromising security. The lack of these expected features has confined the technology to a relatively technical and enthusiastic audience.
• Tide have developed the world’s first decentralized username & password authentication system. It removes the need for a central trusted entity, measures 14 million% more secure than existing centralized alternatives in the face of a data breach and retains a familiar user experience for anyone that interacts online.

Decentralized Automated Trustee

• For wallet functions to be performed (e.g. sign a transaction to approve a payment), an end user has to manually interact with the wallet or at the very least in more sophisticated wallets, ensure online access to the wallet is constant. If a user or their wallet is offline, there’s currently no way to transact or interact with the user’s authority, dramatically inhibiting automation to any meaningful scale.
• The combination of Tide’s decentralized wallet, which is always available, acting with Tide’s delegated automated trustee, a decentralized bot, enables transactions and interactions in accordance with a user’s instructions to be executed on their behalf, with their full authority, even when they’re offline — for example decrypting sensitive information to parties that match an approved profile (e.g. for KYC /AML purposes) or making a payment or trade, when unforeseen, but approved parameters are met.
• This enables a Libra wallet and cryptocurrency to perform roles far beyond monetary functions, including managing access to assets in the sharing economy, managing custodianship, digital signatures, voting and much more. This additional utility provides a strategic advantage from an adoption and retention perspective and adds significant additional traffic to the network and value to node operators.

Useful links

Tide’s Decentralized Authentication POC —  http://h4x.tide.org

Github —  https://github.com/tide-foundation/Tide-h4x-for-Privacy

Whitepaper —  https://tide.org/whitepaper

For more about Tide, visit https://tide.org