[Recap] The Future of Financial Privacy: Why Privacy-Preserving Blockchains Matter

August 26, 2025

On August 20th, The Tie hosted the Innovator Webinar, “The Future of Financial Privacy: Why Privacy‑Preserving Blockchains Matter,” featuring Howard Wu, Founder & CEO of Aleo; Rob Viglione, Founder of zkVerify; and Omar Azhar, VP and Head of Business Development at Matter Labs. Moderated by Sacha Ghebali, Chief Strategy Officer at The Tie, the conversation covered the increasing importance of privacy infrastructure for both institutions and retail, the zero‑knowledge (ZK) breakthroughs making it possible, and how regulation will shape adoption.

The panel agreed ZK has moved well beyond the research phase. Aleo’s L1 with private smart contracts is live, ZKsync is rolling out private, customized L2s anchored to Ethereum, and zkVerify is preparing production tools that make verification simpler and cheaper. The shared focus across all three projects is on making privacy usable in practice, ensuring sensitive data stays confidential while still allowing activity to be verified on public blockchains. This approach is attracting interest from enterprises that need compliance and security, while also creating new kinds of applications and experiences for everyday users.

For institutions, privacy enables real business. Treasury operations, tokenized assets, and interbank transactions can’t run on fully public rails. Private execution with on‑chain verification lets firms meet confidentiality and compliance requirements without giving up auditability or settlement guarantees. For retail, privacy preserving blockchains offer a number of use cases such as payroll transactions that don’t expose salaries, payments that don’t leak balances, identity checks that prove facts without revealing personal data.

Howard Wu walked through Aleo’s approach of private computation off-chain, verified on-chain. The network supports “view keys” not only at the account level but also at the level of individual transactions and records, allowing users, or approved third parties, to reveal data selectively when needed. Aleo is also developing ZPass, a verifiable-credentials system that lets users prove facts such as age, residency, or accreditation without sharing unnecessary personal details. Because developers can set rules directly in the system, they can adjust compliance requirements like AML and KYC depending on the jurisdiction, making it possible to balance user privacy with regulatory expectations.

Omar Azhar explained that ZKsync is building private, role-based L2s that enterprises can control while still anchoring proofs to Ethereum so activity remains verifiable. This setup combines confidentiality with the security of a public chain and allows different organizations to interact privately. ZKsync is also focused on improving usability through features like account abstraction and “Smart Sign-On,” which let users log in with familiar methods such as email or biometrics. The aim is to give developers the tools they need so users get an experience as simple as the traditional system but with the security and features available via blockchain technology.

Rob Viglione discussed the cost and complexity of verification for developers. Because verification costs differ by proof system and network, they can limit which products are practical to launch. zkVerify aims to solve this by offering a universal verification system and a new Relayer REST API that simplifies deployment across different chains. With this setup, developers only need to verify once, and the results can be used anywhere, with near-instant responses to improve user experience. Costs and backend details are handled by zkVerify through a subscription model, allowing teams to focus on building products instead of managing gas fees or complex infrastructure.

Moving on to the topic of regulatory compliance, the panel emphasized that privacy and compliance can work together. Tools like view keys, verifiable credentials, and programmable policies allow users to keep their data private while still giving regulators the oversight they require. A big part of the effort right now is educating regulators on how ZK works and bringing them into systems so they can see it firsthand. The next step is creating common standards for identity, tokenization, and market activity, which will make it easier for institutions to adopt the technology and upgrade their existing systems.

The panel noted that misconceptions about privacy are still common, both inside and outside crypto. Privacy is not all-or-nothing, different use cases require different levels of confidentiality. Despite these hurdles, the biggest opportunities according to the panelists are in identity and DeFi. With identity, zero-knowledge proofs can confirm information like age or citizenship without exposing personal data, reducing fraud and spam. In DeFi, private balances and transactions could attract larger institutional investors who won’t participate on fully public ledgers, driving more activity and liquidity.

Each project also outlined what comes next. Aleo is expanding partnerships with financial institutions, stablecoin issuers, and bridges to strengthen its L1 ecosystem. ZKsync plans to continue onboarding enterprises to private L2s while growing tokenized asset activity on its public networks. Meanwhile, zkVerify is preparing to launch tools designed to make ZK integration simple for any application. Together, these efforts point to a shared direction: privacy that is configurable, verifiable on chain, and practical enough for both institutions and everyday users.

The discussion made clear that privacy is moving from a niche concern to a core requirement for the next generation of blockchain infrastructure. While misconceptions remain and regulatory engagement will take time, the opportunities ahead show how zero-knowledge proofs can unlock both security and usability for institutions and retail users alike. Aleo, ZKsync, and zkVerify are each approaching the challenge from different angles, but all are focused on making privacy practical.