Namada gives the privacy landscape a different shape, by providing the largest possible unified privacy set in the multichain, and complementing other chains by seeding/retrofitting privacy-shielded actions
Privacy Matters in Multichain
Privacy is of utmost importance in the multichain ecosystem. It safeguards sensitive information, enables anonymity, fosters trust, ensures compliance, and fosters innovation. By prioritizing privacy measures, the multichain ecosystem can provide users with the necessary security and confidence to fully embrace the potential of blockchain technology while preserving their privacy rights.
Here are several key reasons that privacy holds immense importance in the multichain ecosystem:
Privacy Safeguards User Data and Transactions
In a decentralized and transparent system like multichain, privacy measures are vital to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access, data breaches, and malicious activities. By safeguarding privacy, individuals can have control over their personal and financial data, preventing it from falling into the wrong hands.
Privacy Empowers Anonymity in Multichain
This aspect is particularly crucial in scenarios where individuals want to engage in transactions without revealing their real-world identities. By preserving anonymity, privacy empowers users to transact freely, fostering a sense of trust and security within the ecosystem.
Privacy Builds Trust in Multichain
When users have confidence that their data and transactions are protected, they are more likely to engage in various blockchain applications and contribute to the growth of the ecosystem. Enhanced privacy measures can attract a broader range of users, including individuals, businesses, and institutions, creating a robust and diverse multichain community.
Privacy Ensures Regulatory Compliance in Multichain
Many industries have strict privacy regulations that must be adhered to, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. By implementing robust privacy measures, the multichain ecosystem can facilitate the secure exchange of sensitive data while ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, thus avoiding potential legal ramifications.
Privacy Fuels Innovation in Multichain
When users have confidence in the privacy of their data, they are more likely to explore and experiment with different use cases of multichain technology. This, in turn, drives innovation and opens up opportunities for novel applications in finance, healthcare, supply chain management, and other sectors.
What is Namada?
Namada is a Layer 1 blockchain that utilizes the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and implements independent privacy rights for assets between chains, known as Interchain Asset-agnostic Privacy. It is compatible with Cosmos’ IBC, enabling swift asset transfers between IBC-enabled blockchains and Ethereum at low costs.
Namada shares a similar structure with Anoma, a protocol focused on protecting privacy and addressing decentralized P2P payment challenges across multiple blockchains. The development of Namada aims to safeguard user privacy when transferring assets between blockchains through a user-friendly interface.
Why Namada?
Privacy should be the default and inherent in the systems we use for transacting. However, a safe and user-friendly multi-asset privacy solution does not yet exist in the blockchain ecosystem. Until now, users have had to choose between a sovereign chain that reissues assets (e.g., Zcash) or a privacy-preserving solution built on an existing smart contract chain.
Both options have significant trade-offs: in the former case, users don’t have assets they want to transact with, and in the latter case, existing platforms have restrictions that lead to the leakage of non-trivial metadata and expensive and clunky protocols.
NAMADA ADDRESSES THESE CHALLENGES.
Namada supports any fungible or non-fungible asset on an IBC-compatible blockchain, as well as fungible or non-fungible assets sent over a custom Ethereum bridge (such as ERC20 tokens and ERC721 tokens, respectively). Once assets are on Namada, shielded transfers are inexpensive, and all assets contribute to the same anonymity set.
Users of Namada can earn rewards, retain privacy of assets, and contribute to shared privacy.
How is Namada shaping privacy in the multichain
Unifying Privacy Sets
Namada’s architecture enables the combination of all privacy sets into a single, comprehensive shielded set. By doing so, Namada significantly strengthens privacy guarantees for every interaction within the multichain ecosystem.
On Namada, all tokens, fungible and non-fungible, share one shielded set
Seeding and Retrofitting Privacy
Namada empowers users to seed privacy to assets that were created and previously used in transparent chains. Through custom bridges and inter-blockchain communication (IBC), assets can be transferred to Namada’s shielded set, breaking linkability and preserving privacy.
Shielded Actions
Namada allows users to interact privately with other chains and their respective decentralized applications (dApps) through shielded actions. Users can trade assets privately, such as converting ATOM to OSMO on Osmosis, without compromising their privacy.
Shared Privacy
Namada’s private bridges connect heterogeneous privacy chains, creating a shared privacy environment. This anti-rivalrous feature enhances privacy guarantees by expanding the multichain privacy set. Private bridges also improve user experience by eliminating the need to unshield assets during interactions.
Conclusion
Without Namada, privacy will continue to grow horizontally with more and more L1/L2s deploying privacy-preserving schemes – but due to the segregation of privacy sets, it will not result in better privacy for their user bases.
Namada gives the privacy landscape a different shape, by providing the largest possible unified privacy set in the multichain, complementing other chains by seeding/retrofitting privacy, and enabling shielded actions. This removes their need to make drastic architectural changes to integrate cryptographic schemes in the base layers. By connecting to other privacy chains through private bridges, Namada’s shielded set can be shared and create an even larger privacy set in the multichain.
