Privacy is becoming a growing concern as the world continues its mass digitisation and the trail of personal data breadcrumbs we leave behind grows. That’s the view of Riccardo Spagni, lead maintainer at the Monero Project, writing in a Fin24 analysis. ‘Take something as simple as an online transaction: when the average consumer pays a merchant in Europe via their PayPal account, their data goes to as many as 600 different companies. The consumer has zero visibility over any of the companies involved. The amount of metadata about our lives is staggering – and we have no control over any of it.’ He said regulators have tried to resolve some of the issues around data privacy and use of personal information by businesses. ‘The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation is a far-reaching piece of legislation that aims to protect EU citizens from unwanted or unauthorised personal data use. Although the upper limits of its sanctions still need to be tested, GDPR promises fines of up to €20m to organisations that compromise the personal data of any EU citizen. But for most transactions, consumers and businesses remain at the mercy of a vast network of interlinked companies that process and distribute our personal metadata across the globe. A lot of this is driven by convenience: when cash was still the preferred payment method, people enjoyed a fair amount of privacy as cash transactions can be concluded away from any prying eyes.’