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A Hidden Hand?: User Empowerment suppression in Crypto & Blockchain Encryption
- The trend of user-empowering decryption features disappearing from major blockchain ecosystems raises concerns of hidden control motives driven by regulatory or commercial pressures.
- MetaMask deprecated eth_decrypt in 2023, citing key safety concerns, but the reasoning seems flawed as no known exploits existed, potentially masking a deeper motive.
- Solana lacks native decryption features, highlighting a trend in major ecosystems of sidelining user-focused privacy tools.
- Cosmos also lacks a decryption API, deviating from its decentralization focus, aligning with the trend of suppressing user empowerment.
- Polkadot stands out by supporting decryptMessage function, enabling secure private communication linked to blockchain identities, but faces accessibility challenges.
- A hidden hand theory is proposed, attributing the suppression of user-empowering tools to a blend of regulatory and commercial pressures across blockchain ecosystems.
- Regulatory actions like the 2022 OFAC sanctions on privacy tools and SEC's actions against Coinbase contribute to the pressure on blockchain ecosystems to scale back on privacy features.
- The removal of decryption tools like eth_decrypt and decryptMessage limits private on-chain communication, shifting encryption off-chain and hindering user autonomy and innovation.
- Community efforts are needed to champion blockchain models that prioritize privacy, resist suppression of decryption tools, and uphold the empowering roots of blockchain technology.
- The move to suppress decryption tools like eth_decrypt is questioned, with evidence pointing towards a broader trend of control driven by external forces within blockchain ecosystems.
- The impact of losing user-empowering tools in the blockchain space raises concerns about the underlying motives of steering towards control, prompting the community to advocate for user empowerment.
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