Think about all the information about us that corporations possess:

our names;

our email addresses;

our purchases;

our locations;

sometimes even the pieces of information that we didn't even notice that we gave away.

What is strange is that most of us don't have a clue where all that information goes.

We simply agree with terms and conditions by clicking the button, and then we just go on.

And I did it many times.

That's what makes me interested in blockchain.

Not in a way that blockchain is a kind of magical wand that would solve all our privacy problems, but in a way that it allows thinking differently about ownership.

Imagine the situation when everybody would have a personal digital identity.

Instead of creating yet another account in any website and giving away all the information, we would be able to decide what information we want to provide and for what period of time.

Any website would simply require knowing our age.

Why should it know our name, location, and other details?

And here is what makes blockchain interesting for me.

Blockchain could potentially allow people proving certain facts about themselves without providing unnecessary information.

But there is one very important detail.

Blockchain does not mean that information would be automatically secure.

On the contrary, some blockchains are extremely transparent.

That's why I believe that putting everyone's personal data on it won't be enough.

The idea is to use blockchain as the tool to regulate access and to verify information instead of making it visible.

We haven't figured out how to do it yet.

And I'm glad that we haven't.

Personal data is too precious to experiment.

But the way of thinking about it is right.

For years, we were used to giving away all our information to use the internet.

Maybe it doesn't have to stay like this forever.

Maybe the next internet will pose another question.

Not "what information we can get from you? "

But "what information are you willing to give to us? "

That's quite a radical change.

And if blockchain could make such an internet possible, making this change without creating other privacy issues in return, I believe that this could be one of the most valuable uses of blockchain.

Not because blockchain gives value to data...

But because it would give back the value of control.