Everyday privacy in web3: 3 tips for beginners

Transparency and privacy on the blockchain can be competing ideas, but both are important for blockchain transactions.

• Transparency is important to prove that transactions have taken place and added to the blockchain in a decentralized way.
• Privacy is important for many financial use cases where one party doesn't want to broadcast to everyone the details of a transaction.

Zero-Knowledge Proofs (zkProofs) allow for both of these ideas to co-exist. Users can prove they made a transaction (transparency) while hiding the details of that transaction from the general public (privacy). zkBob uses zkProofs to achieve the balancing act between transparency and privacy.

There are many use cases where privacy makes sense. zkBob can be leveraged to easily achieve everyday privacy in web3. The following 3 tips give examples of simple ways you can start to use zkBob for normal, private transactions.

Use a private payment link to receive payments

Let's say you went out to dinner with friends. You paid the bill and your friends want to reimburse you, but they want to use crypto and would like some privacy with the transaction.

You can simply create a private payment link in zkBob and send it to them, via chat, text message or any other method.

When they receive the link, they click the link, connect their web3 wallet to the Polygon network, enter in the amount and token they want to pay you with, then click send.

There are several advantages with using the private payment link feature:

1. Your friend doesn't need a zkBob account. They simply click the link and choose the token and amount to send.
2. You can create a payment link and copy and send with just a few clicks.
3. You receive private USDC in your zkBob account.
4. Mobile phone supported (zkproofs take a little longer but can be conducted in a mobile environment).
5. Receive funds privately.

Use a private payment link to send or receive donations

Let's say you want to donate to a controversial political non-profit. It is one you believe in, but you would rather keep your political views private, which is well within your rights. You also want to use crypto to donate, because it's fast, borderless and processing fees are small.

If the non-profit uses zkBob you are in luck! Similar to receiving a private personal payment, a non-profit can create a zkBob account and send out a private payment link. You can then click on this link to donate privately to the cause.

If you run a non-profit, it's also easy to setup an account and send out private payment links to your donors. You can generate and send out individual links to best protect anonymity. Your donors can then choose the amount and tokens to send to the cause, safely and securely.

Use zkBob to send or receive private salary

Businesses and employees can benefit greatly from private salary payments. Typically not everyone want to share how much money they make, and when salary payments are completed through zkBob this information can be kept confidential.

In this scenario, both the company and each individual employee needs to setup a separate zkBob account. At each payroll, the employee generates a zkBob address and sends it to payroll processing. Company payroll can then add each address and amount to a csv and complete the payment with a single, private multitransfer.

This is efficient and private for all employees. If using the Polygon USDC pool, payments are also distributed in stablecoins which is important for regular salary payments. Once an individual receives their salary, they can withdraw from zkBob as USDC and offramp as necessary for use outside of the crypto ecosystem.

Crypto Privacy is Important for Everyday Use

The 3 use cases illustrated above are common financial situations we encounter daily. Blockchain transparency can sometimes hinder normal, everyday use cases. With zkBob, privacy and ease-of-use combine to support these types of normal financial transaction.

1. Personal Private Payments: Use the private payment link to easily receive private crypto payments. Splitting meals, paying babysitters, hairdressers, or for any services in a fast, efficient way.
2. Private Donations: Privacy is often needed for donations, and the private payment link makes it possible. Encourage non-profits you support to incorporate zkBob allow for private donations, or if you are a non-profit use zkBob to protect your donors.
3. Private Payroll: Salaries can be paid privately on a regular basis with the zkBob multitransfer feature.