I arrived at Holešovice market feeling anxious. This was my first Ethereum event, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. A security guard stood ramrod straight in front of an ETHPrague banner, like the hall needed protecting from unknown hordes. He glanced at my wrist dismissively and pointed at the next building.
On the surface, their product, Self Protocol, offers a smart, privacy-focused solution to identity in an age of AI hot takes, bots and Sybils. I was fascinated by the idea of a self-sovereign identity layer which would offer a massive increase in personal privacy. It all sounded very sensible, in the way that IKEA instructions sound sensible until you try to assemble the thing and end up crying on the floor.
What I expected: Privacy is hard but we are getting there. What I heard: We know it’s broken. We’ve known for years. And no one really wants to fix it.