Privacy Coin For E-commerce Is The Next Big Thing In Crypto — Here’s Why
Why do I need a privacy coin for e-commerce when I already have bitcoin?
That’s a perfectly reasonable question for any crypto enthusiast to ask themselves. After all, the world’s original cryptocurrency was supposed to provide us with secure, anonymous payments free from external interference.
However, as time goes on, it’s becoming clear that bitcoin has several downfalls that make it less than ideal for e-commerce. One of those weaknesses is privacy.
Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world. — Eric Hughes
Why privacy is important? Read here 👇
Where bitcoin falls short
Bitcoin is not a privacy coin. For e-commerce, that’s a big problem. That’s because all transactions on the Bitcoin network are visible to anybody who cares to track them.
Essentially, when you pay with bitcoin, ethereum, or hundreds of other cryptocurrencies, you’re using an alias in the form of your public key. When someone links your real-life identity to your public key, any trace of privacy you once had is gone.
At that point, they can see every transaction you’ve ever made on the network. They can also see exactly how many bitcoins are in your wallet.
Ironically, once people have identified your BTC address, you actually have much less privacy than you would paying with fiat. Zero, in fact. If someone knows how much money you have, you instantly become a target. None of us want to find ourselves in that situation.
US whistleblower Edward Snowden — who revealed thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists — has highlighted bitcoin’s privacy issues. Snowden is a big advocate of cryptocurrencies, especially privacy coins. As he said in this tweet, bitcoin is great, but it’s not safe since it isn’t private.
“If you’re not doing anything illegal, you’ve got nothing to hide”
Totalitarians love this line of reasoning. The assumption here is that only criminals want privacy so they can avoid getting caught.
This is, of course, rubbish. Imagine you’re at home eating dinner with your family and you notice someone staring at you through the window. You tell the person to go away, and they say:
“What’s wrong? It’s not like you’re doing anything embarrassing or illegal.”
Sure, eating dinner is perfectly normal behavior. You probably don’t mind if people know that you ate chicken for dinner at 7 pm last night. But that doesn’t give this creepy stranger the right to watch you while you do it.
The same goes for your online privacy. You might use your cryptocurrency to buy something perfectly normal, like your groceries, or something embarrassing, like an autographed Justin Bieber poster.
Either way, you shouldn’t have to worry about people tracking your payments and working out what you’ve purchased. If you’re not using a privacy coin for e-commerce, that information is at risk.
It should be your decision as to whether or not you share your information with other people and corporations. And if you’re not already concerned about what big businesses can do with your personal data, read on.
They know you better than you know yourself
When e-commerce first emerged, companies like Amazon needed to collect certain personal data to run their business. Without information like your name, address, and credit card details, Amazon wouldn’t be able to sell and deliver its products.
However, Amazon has become much more than just an online store. In 2016, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was invited to join the Pentagon Defense Advisory Board. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt leads that same board. While it later emerged that Bezos had never officially accepted the role in the wake of public pressure, just the thought of a man with that much access to citizens’ private information in a high-level defense position is terrifying.
Now, with the release of Alexa, Amazon is collecting a whole new slew of private information. The virtual home assistant listens to your conversations, answers your questions, and learns your habits. That information is extremely valuable to a company that wants to sell its products to you.
Imagine if Amazon were a physical retail shop, let’s say one that sells mattresses. You walk in the front door and a salesperson greets you by your first name.
“Hey there Greg, how are you today? We recommend you check out this new mattress — it’s perfect for you and Sally, what with her bad back and your snoring. While you’re here, why not grab a waterproof sheet to help little Timmy with his bed-wetting? And hey, we’ve noticed it’s been five years since you bought your last electric blanket. Don’t you think it’s time for an upgrade?”
In real life, that would be extremely creepy. But when it’s our computer making these recommendations, we tend not to think about it. Until we start using a privacy coin for e-commerce within a decentralized system, we’ll have to deal with this kind of spying.
The age of (in)security
In a centralized system like Amazon’s, personal data will always remain vulnerable. Even if hackers don’t manage to get past the site’s security measures, there’s always the risk of employees selling your information on the black market. And yes, several reports in 2018 suggested Amazon employees have done exactly that. After all, when lower-level employees are receiving offers of up to $2000 for information, that temptation can be hard to resist.
Here you can see just how much private user data tech companies like Amazon and Google keep:
Just imagine what would happen if that data got into the wrong hands. It’s the digital equivalent of somebody holding a gun to your head.
Of course, it’s not just buyers who face problems with the current e-commerce system. For frustrated online businesses, a privacy coin for e-commerce could be exactly what the doctor ordered.
How Amazon crushes small businesses
As a business, it’s imperative that you keep your sensitive financial information private. And, as we know, on centralized platforms you can never be 100% sure that your data is safe.
But the fact that Amazon has access to this information isn’t just a security issue. By selling on Amazon, you’re essentially giving this multinational giant access to a large chunk of your business’ private financial data.
There’s little doubt sites like Amazon and Alibaba can use that information against you.
Just take a look at this complaint from a seller who does business on Amazon. 👇
According to the seller, Amazon realized that one particular product was selling successfully. So, Amazon decided to undercut this one-man business by offering an identical product for 20% cheaper. The giant corporation used its buying power to muscle out its smaller competitor and make it impossible for them to continue selling their product for even the smallest profit.
Why would you ever do business with a site that behaves like that? Well, until now, you’ve had no other choice. But with the right privacy coin for e-commerce, online shopping could be on the cusp of a huge change.
So, what’s the solution?
In 2019, you probably don’t pay with a privacy coin when you shop online. If you’re like 99% of people, you still use credit cards and make purchases through sites like Amazon.
Even if you own crypto, there’s every chance you still use BTC or ETH to make online transactions. And, as we know, these coins are far from perfect in terms of privacy.
Of course, the earliest crypto adopters have hoarded many mineable cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH. When those coins first appeared, it was much easier to acquire them with minimal effort. Now, as their prices have skyrocketed, many people choose to hold these coins as a store of value rather than using them as a means of payment.
To corroborate this, just look at the distribution of bitcoin wealth. More than 95% of all bitcoins in circulation belong to just 3% of people. This is far too uneven a distribution to cater to the global online shopping industry.
Given what we know about these coins’ privacy issues, we’d be naive to think they provide the perfect solution. Instead, we need a privacy coin for e-commerce that can protect our data and give us the ultimate freedom to shop online. That’s where Safex comes in.
Safex: The privacy coin for e-commerce
Of all the cryptocurrencies tackling these problems, Safex provides the best solution. This platform functions on a blockchain that enables everyone to buy and sell goods and services using a purpose-built privacy coin for e-commerce called Safex Cash. Given the importance of data security in e-commerce, the Safex team has found the solution to ensure their users’ privacy. Technologies such as “stealth addresses” and “Ring Confidential Transactions” are used in the creation of Safex Cash, making transactions untraceable on the network.
Safex Cash not only hides your transactions from snooping eyes, but it also comes with its own purpose-built, decentralized marketplace.
Imagine Amazon, Upwork, and Shopify combined into one platform on a blockchain, with its own privacy coin for e-commerce. That’s Safex.
Within the marketplace you can create your own shop, make purchases, or offer your services as a freelancer. And you can do all that without having to provide any unnecessary data.
The beauty of Safex is that nobody — not even the team behind the marketplace — can see what you buy or who you buy it from. That’s in contrast to Amazon and Alibaba, which are both goldmines of personal data.
These two images illustrate the stark differences between Safex and its fiat-based competitors:
Unlike Amazon, which can monitor basically everything its users do, Safex’s team doesn’t have access to buyers’ or sellers’ information. That means no more data breaches or copycat products driving small sellers out of business.
And no more gun to your head if you’re an everyday shopper.
Now you can join the (r)evolution of money
Because it’s decentralized, Safex Marketplace offers real, iron-clad data security. There’s no single point of entry for a hacker to access; all information remains on a secure blockchain. And because Safex uses its own privacy coin for e-commerce, you can expect much lower fees than existing e-commerce platforms.
The only fee on Safex Marketplace is a flat 5% fee for every transaction. Compared to that, Amazon charges an average fee of around 15% for most items, plus a monthly subscription fee of $39.99 if you are a seller with 40+ products listed. And that isn’t the only benefit. The fee you pay on Safex Marketplace gets distributed among its participants.
Think of it not so much as an expense, but rather an incentive for users to participate.
The Safex team also aims to encourage the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. With that in mind, they’ve created an app that enables everyone, even your grandma, to participate in the (r)evolution of money.
Safex One-Click Miner App, as its name suggests, puts you just a click away from taking part in the crypto industry. With a single click you can become a miner and create coins, which you can use to purchase goods and services on the platform. The app is optimized for CPU mining, so you don’t need any bulky or expensive machinery.
Your laptop is all you need to enter the future of e-commerce and cryptocurrency.
We can’t expect Amazon and Alibaba to disappear overnight. But with companies like Safex having completed development on their privacy coin for e-commerce, time could be running out for these data-mining giants.
Follow Safex twitter for new updates about the project.
The privacy in e-commerce is becoming a reality this year. Stay tuned!
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