Just finished reading a16z's prediction for 2026, the biggest feeling is that the era of "fig leaf" in the privacy arena has ended, and the real "sovereignty war" has begun. The project @ 0xMiden, which is currently being discussed, is undoubtedly the top player in this war and fully aligns with the three core points of this article Firstly, privacy is the ultimate 'rogue software' A16z mentioned a word: 'Chain Lock in' In the past, people believed that the faster the chain and the lower the cost, the more likely users would stay. wrong! Nowadays, with the development of cross chain bridges, users are all scumbags who go to whichever one is cheaper. But privacy is different. The transaction history, private notes, and asset certificates generated on Miden are all your local 'secrets'. If you want to move with these secrets, the cost is extremely high. Let me summarize: Privacy is not meant to evade regulation, it is meant to establish a sovereign moat. Whoever can help users hide their data, users must wholeheartedly follow whoever they are. Miden's Account/Note model is designed for this purpose. It does not record data on a public ledger, but rather allows you to hold the ledger yourself. Secondly, the so-called 'decentralization', which is not offline or local, is all about playing rogue games A16z's Shane Mac roast that even if the current communication software is encrypted, the server is still someone else's. This hits a pain point in blockchain: why do nodes have to help me calculate accounts? In today's blockchain (such as Ethereum), when you make a transaction, tens of thousands of nodes around the world have to calculate it for you. It's like running naked Miden's killer move: Client side Proving. In Miden's opinion, I can figure out how to spend my money myself and give you a ZK Proof. You don't need to know who I sent it to or how much I sent. This logic of "computing locally and verifying on chain" truly realizes the "ownership" mentioned by a16z - you don't even need to trust the server, you only need to trust the mathematics. Thirdly, 'Secret-as-a-Service': turning privacy into a 'faucet' that institutions can use Adeniyi's viewpoint mentioned by a16z is very business savvy: privacy cannot be a 'black box', it must be programmable. Why do institutions such as Goldman Sachs and BlackRock dare not play DeFi on a large scale? Because they are afraid of being seen by their competitors. But they also need compliance and cannot be completely opaque. Miden's role: It is like a "programmable safe". Through the Miden VM, we can write the following logic: "This money is usually invisible to anyone, but if the regulatory agency holds a specific multi signature key, or if I breach the contract, specific data will be unlocked This is what a16z called Secrets-as-a-Service. It turns privacy into a tool that can be adjusted on demand, rather than a rigid switch. ➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟➟ A16z is actually setting the tone for 2026: the "transparency" of public blockchains has turned from an advantage to a burden. The reason why I am optimistic about Miden is that it is not patching on the old foundation of Ethereum, it has directly changed its logic: Anti quantum (STARKs architecture, specifically mentioned in the tweet about quantum threats). Sovereignty (you generate your own proof instead of asking nodes to process data for you). Compatibility (it is part of the Polygon ecosystem, backed by Ethereum, not an isolated island). If Ethereum is the global 'shared computer', then Miden is sending everyone a 'private encrypted computer' and connecting these computers together with an invisible wire. Of course, another reason why I am optimistic is that @ a16zcrypto leads the investment~ @0xMiden