💡Zero Knowledge Token ZKT
PROJECT AND functionality
Project plan – multiple use cases on the road to Zero Knowledge
Project Name. The token of the ZKT Sale is called the “Zero Knowledge Token”, short “ZKT”, or nicknamed “Zeke” token.
The name “Zero Knowledge” is today commonly used in reference to zero-knowledge proofs, a digital protocol that allows data to be shared between parties without having to reveal the content of their interactions with any third party.
As further explained in our research paper (technical whitepaper) named “Zero Knowledge Advertising: a new era of privacy-preserving AdTech solutions” that Profila co-authored with the University of Madrid III, Big Data Science Institute – Santander (hereinafter the “ZKA Research Paper”, read the full version on our website here), Zero Knowledge Advertising allows people to remain anonymous while viewing personalized content from brands. Personalized ads are delivered to users without sharing any users’ data with third parties.
As part of its ZKA strategy, Profila has created a blockchain based token with ZKT, which will incentivize people to control (who has access to) their personal data via the Profila platform, will compensate internet users for participating in the ZKA ecosystem and help keep each other’s identities (IP addresses) anonymous (through peer-to-peer technologies). Ultimately, ZKA will help to identify and reduce Ad fraud (through audit trails) and the misuse of personal data online by businesses through the current real-time bidding Ad model.
Project Goal.
Profila intends to fix the (broken) relationship that exists today between people (you) and brands (see earlier sections 2.1 and 2.2, about today’s privacy problems in brand relationships and the AdTech industry) and level the playing field by providing people with certain tools to better control (the use of) their data and act against misuse (e.g., via the data subject rights service). It is Profila’s goal to empower people to take back control over their data – by making them aware of their privacy (rights) – and compensate people for their data and attention.
Project Plan.
We are creating a cardano-native token that helps to succeed our goal. Our token will incentivize people to learn about privacy in the Profila App, help them ethically exercise their rights and share better data, all under their own control, and facilitate the access to a variety of digital privacy-related products. The ZKA token will reward good behavior, help avoid any abuse of the platform and tools we make available and will compensate people for taking part in this movement. The many functionalities of the Zero Knowledge Token are described below and set out in detail in section 4 of the Whitepaper. ZKT already has several functionalities before its public sale. After the ZKT Token Sale, we will (i) improve the existing functionalities of ZKT (see “existing functionalities 1 – 3 below); and (ii) further develop the functionalities of ZKT (see “functionality 4-5”).
Existing use case 1 – privacy education and awareness
We consider privacy awareness a first crucial step in helping people gain control over their data. People who learn their privacy rights by reading the education modules and passing the education, receive an amount of ZKT as a reward that can be further used to protect and control their data (see functionalities 3 and 5). These ZKT come from a user incentive pool which will be used to incentivize users to participate in the ZKT ecosystem.
Existing use case 2 – personal data management
Managing your personal data is a second crucial step in helping people gain control. If you create an accurate set of your personal data – as opposed to the inaccurate, unethically sourced and often outdated personal data brands use today – your Profila will become very attractive to brands. Our goal is that this data set becomes the only source of true personal data about you. People who build up an accurate (digital) profile of themselves in the Profila app, receive an amount of ZKT as a reward that can be further used to protect and control their data (see functionalities 3 & 5).
Existing use case 3 – privacy rights management
Enforcing your rights is a third crucial step for people to gain control over their personal data. People can control their data effectively and consciously by exercising their data subject rights. In order to access this digital service, you need to deploy or use some ZKT – which you either bought during the ZKT Sale or received under functionalities 1 and/or 2 (privacy education and personal data management). The reasons to make access to this digital service depended on a small amount of ZKA is to (1) Combat abuse and excessive request - to make sure that this privacy right management service is not abused by people sending an excessive amount of data subject rights request to brands, and (2) Cover blockchain transaction fees - as explained in our Catalyst proposal “Control your data – privacy ledger”, important metadata about each right you exercise gets encrypted and saved on the Cardano blockchain (your name, specific right, data, specific brand).[1] The average transaction fee equates to roughly 0.16 to 0.17 ADA (Cardano's token) and can be paid in native tokens like ZKT instead of in ADA.
Existing functionalities 4 – personal data sharing
Controlling who has access to your data is a fourth crucial step in helping people (re-)gain control over their personal data. People who use our data subscriptions (as explained, infra, section 3.1.b) of the Whitepaper) to ethically share their personal data/ digital profiles with brands of their choosing, under the terms accepted and controlled by each individual, can today be paid out in fiat currencies (via a stripe integration). Now, we are building a smart contract system that saves all relevant information you as an individual shared with a company onto the Cardano blockchain (in encrypted form), in exchange for a faster payout in ZKT.
More information about this function of ZKT can be found in our funded project that received funding under Catalyst Fund 6, “Dapp to control/monetize your data”.
Ongoing functionalities 5 – zero-knowledge advertisingTM
The final and an important future use case of ZKT in helping people (re-)gain control over their personal data is our Zero Knowledge Advertising system, which guarantees full anonymity during your online activities (unless turned off by the individual). An individual (you) who chooses to activate Zero Knowledge Advertising in the Profila App, can choose to browse the internet anonymously (on each browser with a Profila plugin and each mobile app which installed a Profila SDK) – while still watching relevant content as defined by him/her via Profila – by making use of a peer-to-peer network of other Profila users that (help) hide his/her identity towards advertisers and publishers. The latter still have a guarantee that their content is viewed by relevant people, but do not (need to) know the personal information about the viewer. Each Profila user or “peer” in the network who participates to keep the anonymity of another user will receive a small amount of ZKT deducted from the advertisement income you (50%) and Profila (50%) receive. Only if you hold ZKT can you access this anonymity functionality.
Type of crypto asset, role and purpose
ZKT is a payment token (based on functional characteristics) and a Cardano native token (based on technical characteristics).
Cardano native token. Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform founded on peer-reviewed research and developed through evidence-based methods. Cardano’s approach to building custom tokens differs from a non-native implementation of custom tokens, such as ERC-20, where custom tokens are implemented using smart contract functionality to simulate transfer of custom assets (i.e., a ledger accounting system).[1]
ZKT Role and Purpose. Depending on the specific use case, ZKT’s token role will either be (i) a “reward” to incentivize people for using the App and to enrich the user experience, (ii) a “toll” for people to participate in the usage fees of the smart contracts, or (iii) a “currency” for creating frictionless transactions between brands and people sharing data:
Reasons for offering a crypto asset to the public include:
- First, we want to incentivize people to learn about privacy and exercise their data subject rights.
- Second, we want to stimulate the consenting exchange of personal data between an informed individual and the brands he/she likes to engage with.
- Third, our token will help to provide “certainty” that transactions and (inter)actions occured.
- Fourth, ZKT reduces the cost of transactions for data sharing (banking / payment service provider intermediaries) and improves the speed of transactions and can be used to offset blockchain entry fees.
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