Tokenized markets, mobile experiences, and privacy infrastructure frequently emerged in actual conversations.

Written by: David C, Bankless

Translated by: Shaw, Golden Finance

Last week, the annual Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) attracted thousands in Cannes, with the Mediterranean's sweltering heat doing little to dampen attendees' enthusiasm for a packed agenda.

While the broader discussions surrounding Ethereum, the Ethereum Foundation, and the Ethereum Community Fund deserve separate analysis, the most striking signals from the conference came from the surrounding ecosystem—topics such as tokenized markets, mobile experiences, and privacy infrastructure were frequently mentioned in conversations at the event.

Privacy: Institutional Premise

During this week, it was refreshing to hear so much discussion about privacy, with people not only interested from a technical perspective (given the plethora of acronyms like TEE, FHE, MPC, ZK, etc.) but also from the standpoint of everyday life. Many I spoke with had previously used consumer-facing privacy applications like ZKP2P and expressed excitement about Aztec's relaunch.

When discussing the future direction of privacy protection, the focus is on more broadly integrating zero-knowledge proofs into everyday on-chain activities, combined with trusted execution environments (TEE) to enhance security.

Indeed, multi-party computation and fully homomorphic encryption are recognized as top technologies worth pursuing, but there is a general consensus that, in their current forms (especially fully homomorphic encryption), they are too complex for practical application environments. However, Coinbase's Yehuda Lindell did introduce their open-source multi-party computation (MPC) library—an initiative aimed at raising security standards across the industry and addressing the talent shortage in MPC to drive related innovations.

In addition to discussing privacy as a key component of the vulnerabilities of our digital age, it is also a necessary condition for attracting institutions to blockchain.

Paul Brody, Global Blockchain Leader at Ernst & Young, pointed out in his speech that privacy is not a feature that businesses can choose; it is a prerequisite for using blockchain in actual business operations. Coordination, rather than computation, is the core bottleneck for enterprises. While tokenized workflows and smart contracts can simplify contracts and reduce inventory costs, it all becomes meaningless if sensitive information is leaked. Without privacy, no company would move high-value business logic or transactions onto the chain. This is especially true for institutions, particularly in the context of dark pools that are deeply entrenched in traditional stock trading. We need solutions that allow large participants to go on-chain without having to disclose every step of their operations.

Tokenized Markets: The Collision of Stocks and Blockchain

While Robinhood's announcement regarding tokenized stocks certainly attracted significant attention, I believe BackedFi also deserves credit for launching xStocks on the same day, allowing people to purchase popular stocks like $SPY, $NVDA, and $TSLA on Solana.

At the EthCC conference, most people still viewed these announcements as temporary measures. Yes, we can trade tokenized Apple stocks, but that is not new. The real excitement lies in our ability to use them as collateral for lending and incorporate them into yield strategies. So, we are currently in an awkward transitional phase—progress is being made, but integration has not yet been achieved.

However, beyond tokenized stocks, there is widespread excitement about tokenization in general, especially regarding commodities. Given the recent performance of uranium ore, uranium digital assets were mentioned in several discussions, while interest in tokenized gold remains strong.

The model is clear: start with familiar assets to prove the pipeline system's viability, then venture into markets where the advantages of blockchain's around-the-clock settlement and fractional ownership clearly surpass traditional infrastructure.

Mobile First

One of the most exciting discussions at this conference stemmed from the quietly emerging experimental wave surrounding consumer crypto applications—almost without exception, these applications are built from a mobile-first perspective. Since most wallet activity currently comes from mobile devices, developers (and users) have considered product design, user interaction, and native mobile processes from the outset.

The upcoming redesign of Coinbase Wallet features social dynamics, which is particularly notable as it not only prioritizes mobile but also integrates the native mobile model into the wallet's design.

Interestingly, there is great anticipation for how mobile applications will facilitate perpetual contract trading on Hyperliquid, especially with the apps Lootbase and Dexari. Robinhood's announcement of its own perpetual contract platform further fueled excitement. Overall, these applications showcase the limitless possibilities that a thumb-operated design philosophy can bring: rapid execution, clear visuals, and gamified interfaces.

The EthCC conference reinforced what we see online: cryptocurrency is no longer just an endless debate over architecture; it is committed to solving issues of coordination, compliance, and high-quality consumer-facing design. The question is not whether blockchain can support significant practical applications, but how quickly we can make them usable, private, and portable, thereby truly making an impact.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。