Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: Vitalik Buterin donates R$ 4 million to messaging apps that prioritize privacy Original Link: https://portaldobitcoin.uol.com.br/vitalik-buterin-doa-r-4-milhoes-para-apps-de-mensagens-que-priorizam-a-privacidade/

Vitalik Buterin donates R$ 4 million to messaging apps that prioritize privacy

The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has become an increasingly active advocate for privacy solutions in the cryptocurrency industry, as global policies have heightened fears of global surveillance states and irritated those who wish to keep their personal lives private.

Recently, Buterin donated $765,000 in ETH(around R$ 4 million) to two privacy-focused messaging apps, Session and SimpleX.

Encrypted messages, like those from Signal, are essential for preserving our digital privacy. Two important next steps for this sector are (i) the creation of permissionless accounts and (ii) the privacy of metadata. Session and SimpleX are two messaging apps that are driving these advancements.

“Without privacy, how can you express your true self? If you can't connect with others by being yourself, you lose the ability to express yourself and live freely,” said Chris McCabe, co-founder of Session. He added:

“There is a war against privacy happening right now, but in reality, it is a war against personal expression and individuality. Without privacy in this modern digital world, you are left with only censorship, excessive control, corruption, and tyrants.”

Session is presented as a “decentralized end-to-end encrypted messenger” aimed at minimizing metadata leakage — metadata refers to information surrounding a content, such as an IP address or the time it was sent. The service also has a token, SESH, with a market capitalization of US$ 10.7 million.

“Neither is perfect software,” warned Buterin, adding that both “have a long way to go” to optimize user experience and security.

“Strong metadata privacy requires decentralization, decentralization is difficult, and user expectations for multi-device support make everything even more complicated,” he continued. “Resistance to Sybil/DoS attacks, both on the messaging routing network and on the user side (without forcing dependency on the phone number), adds even more difficulties.”

Cryptocurrencies and Privacy

Interest in privacy-focused applications and cryptocurrency projects has increased significantly in recent months, as governments seem to be cracking down on the digital environment.

“People are increasingly living in digital spaces. These spaces are vulnerable to a level of surveillance unmatched in the physical world,” said Zac Williamson, co-founder of Aztec Network, a layer two network on Ethereum. He added:

“Privacy is important for individuals to act as free agents in their online interactions, instead of being digital commodities whose data is collected, sold to the highest bidder, and used as a weapon against the user's interests.”

Perhaps the most notable is that, earlier this year, the UK government began requiring its citizens to present identification to access adult content online and is studying the implementation of a digital identity system.

Similarly, on Wednesday (26), the Council of the European Union agreed to allow messaging apps to analyze content to protect children online, in a measure described as “Chat Control”.

Earlier this month, Buterin stated that “privacy is hygiene,” following a security breach that affected several major banks in the US. In October, the Ethereum Foundation launched a new privacy team with 28 members, with plans to expand its privacy-related projects and initiatives.

During this period, privacy-focused cryptocurrencies surged. Zcash, for example, experienced a staggering appreciation of 790%, reaching US$ 698 in the month, despite a 27% decline in the last week and 8% today, when counted in US$ 466.