One of the greatest gifts I’ve been given is anonymity on this platform. It gives me freedom to be exactly who I am without the boxes to tick for gender, race, sexual identity, education, economic class, past haunts and more. It is that freedom which allows me to share honestly and openly and have others relate to me regardless of their background and how different they are from me. 

We are all on ground zero with this equal footing of being detached from our identities in the world, from which we are judged. It gives us greater access to each other and the ability to form relationships without the societal pressures and mores that are formed in our cultures. 

The freedom I am afforded by having an anonymous voice is invaluable. I don’t hold back. I don’t worry about being judged for being a _________. You fill it in. Do you sometimes find yourself not saying something for fear of those you are talking to, not knowing how they would perceive you? I can tell you yes in work situations and personal relationships I may hold back for fear of this perception and sometimes I don’t know if I’m serving myself or the other person. Wouldn’t it be healthier to let it out and learn if something doesn’t go right? As the saying goes, we live and we learn. 

None of us is handed a life manual as we trek on in this unknown world and it can be scary, anxiety-ridden and uncomfortable. The more I am able to express myself, it helps resolve life’s uncertainty and process what’s in front of me and get through it. Moreover, I am able to be open and relate to a global community and hopefully have them relate to me. I don’t live alone in this world and need others and having this understanding makes my world larger. 

 I don’t worry about someone who knows me and worrying about being known for something or some unsavory piece of gossip to travel through the social circles. Or my parents being notified of my funny practices - although it doesn’t matter much to me if my immediate family would know, they know I’m pretty funny already. Letting my voice translate into words on a page and having some kind of reach or impact is powerful and I think an inherent goal of humans as they ponder life. How can I make my mark on the world? What legacy can I leave? Albeit my legacy here on read.cash has been made mostly of my crazy pandemic dreams, I do have hopes to leave more substantial articles with some gravitas.  

Cryptocurrency

Anonymity is also a big attraction in crypto. I’m not trying to hide my money but the thought of an untraceable means of transfers was big. We all shop online now and years ago I did have my credit card info stolen. I bought concert tickets online and someone continued buying more concert tickets! So I appreciate this way of transactions. 

But is it truly anonymous? You can view wallets and view transactions. It provides transparency amongst the community but still cloaks the identity of the user. Unless your Vitalik Buterin and $6 billion in SHIB has been sent to your wallet. As a clever marketing scheme, the SHIB team sent Vitalik the tokens and valiantly, Vitalik made the choice to burn half and donate the rest. When the burning occurred though, the wallet address was seen and identity known. Maybe this is a unique occurrence, in that it was highly publicized and known that he held the amount of SHIB so it was a noticeable amount and able to trace. Which is why many advise to never share the amounts you have in your wallet publicly. If you want to flash your wallet amounts to friends/family okay but do not post about it.

As noted, that was a special instance. 

There is the attraction as well not having to contact my bank when there’s a snag or paying fees on top of fees to use a service that doesn’t seem to serve me. Dealing with banks can be frustrating and having ownership of my own assets empowers me to be responsible and not having to stay on a customer service line for minutes, hours and getting a run around from whomever I speak with and getting different responses and being transferred all over the place. Yes banks can be atrocious and I am for getting as far away from them as possible the more and more I learn about cryptocurrency. 

Groups

There are so many examples of the power of anonymity in our world at large and the power that it has amongst a community. Anonymous, the hacktivist collective who has aimed to take down corruption and in their philosophy “looks for answers to questions that are unanswered.” They have recently made a return last summer in the wake of the George Floyd case. They have been credited to several powerful campaigns against corruption and was done as a decentralized community, spread throughout the world. 

The 12 step programs that end in “Anonymous” have also largely been a key factor in helping millions of people avoid the grip of a devastating addiction which can lead to destroyed lives and many times death. Their model of anonymity allows them to operate in meeting one another where they are at and help them in getting their lives back on track. These groups have realized the power that can be harnessed through anonymity and the results are staggering when looking at the many examples. 

I didn’t realize how long I would make this so if you’ve made it here, thank you! It’s a topic that I am passionate about. Let me know your thoughts on all this. As you can tell, this is important to me and would love to read your comments.