Balaji, author of "The Network Nation," believes that 2025-2030 will be an era of rebuilding the global privacy infrastructure.

Balaji, author of "The Network Nation" and former CTO of Coinbase, outlines a three-phase evolution for the crypto industry, with the next phase (2025–2030) focusing on privacy. Key points include:

Three Development Cycles:
- 2009–2017: Bitcoin validation period, proving viability.
- 2017–2025: Ethereum programmable period, demonstrating on-chain programmability and scaling.
- 2025–2030: Privacy era, centered on zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) to rebuild finance and identity infrastructure.
Core Focus: Zero-knowledge proofs will restructure financial and identity processes (e.g., ZKYC, ZK DEX, ZK smart contracts), exposing only "minimum necessary information" and reshaping traditional financial, regulatory, and digital identity systems.
Significance: ZK technology is as profound as AI, attracting top talent and enabling concepts like crypto communities, on-chain identity systems (e.g., ENS/SNS), and "cyber states." Privacy is emphasized as the foundational narrative for the next-generation crypto world.

During a recent podcast appearance, Balaji, author of "The Cyber Nation" and former CTO of Coinbase, proposed dividing the development of the crypto industry into "three eight-year cycles":
- From 2009 to 2017, the industry spent eight years proving that Bitcoin was viable;
- 2017–2025, Ethereum rises, proving that on-chain programmability and scaling are indeed feasible;
- From 2025 to 2030, we will enter the third stage - the privacy era.

Balaji believes that the core narrative of crypto over the next five years will no longer be assets or programmability, but rather the use of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) to restructure all financial and identity processes: ZKYC, ZK DEX, ZK smart contracts... The entire system will only expose the "minimum necessary information".

He pointed out that ZK's technological depth is no less than that of AI. Relying on a different mathematical system, it will attract a large number of top talents and may reshape traditional financial, regulatory, and digital identity infrastructure. The concepts of crypto communities, on-chain identity systems such as ENS/SNS, and even "cyber states" will also take shape during this cycle.

Balaji stated bluntly: Privacy is not a supplementary narrative, but the underlying answer to the next generation of the crypto world.

Balaji, author of "The Network Nation," believes that 2025-2030 will be an era of rebuilding the global privacy infrastructure.

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