Panel discussion at Zama's CoFHE Shop brings together privacy engineers and compliance specialists to examine how blockchain privacy technologies coexist with regulatory requirements. Speakers from Stellar, Nethermind, and Predicate discuss balancing anonymous and selective-disclosure architectures, on-chain compliance enforcement, and which use cases are production-ready today.
Three leaders in privacy and compliance infrastructure discuss the core tension in on-chain privacy: enabling users to hide transaction data while satisfying regulators who need visibility. Tomo Weller from the Stellar Development Foundation, Kushy from Predicate (compliance policy platform), and speakers from Nethermind (building private payment protocols on Stellar) explore design choices: zero-knowledge proofs versus fully homomorphic encryption, selective disclosure of transaction details, verified credentials, and programmable rules enforceable at the smart contract layer. Key insight: privacy and compliance are not opposed forces. The panel identifies production-ready use cases (payroll, B2B payments, merchant transactions) where privacy is essential, and emerging opportunities in private DeFi and MEV-resistant trading. Discussion emphasizes builders should stop waiting for perfect regulation or flawless technology and start shipping products that balance both requirements.
