Web3 Privacy Literacy

Explains the Web3 privacy landscape - what is public on-chain, what privacy tools exist, and how to think about personal privacy tradeoffs - without recommending specific tools.

Overview

Web3 Privacy Literacy is a descriptive Web3 education skill. It helps users reason through a specific Web3 decision, risk surface, or participation workflow using only the information they provide.

Explains the Web3 privacy landscape - what is public on-chain, what privacy tools exist, and how to think about personal privacy tradeoffs - without recommending specific tools.

The core user problem: Users believe Web3 is private/anonymous, then discover all on-chain activity is permanently public. They make irreversible exposure mistakes.

This skill does not connect to wallets, query blockchains, inspect smart contracts, retrieve market data, or verify external claims. It turns user-provided context into a structured reasoning aid.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user asks about:

• on-chain privacy
• pseudonymity
• privacy tools
• mixer
• zero-knowledge
• stealth address
• transaction privacy
• privacy chain

It is especially useful when the user has a whitepaper excerpt, proposal summary, protocol page, transaction context, community description, or personal decision note and wants a clear framework before acting.

Inputs to Request

Ask for only non-sensitive information:

• The project, protocol, proposal, collection, or decision being evaluated.
• The user's goal and time horizon.
• Any pasted public documentation, proposal text, marketing claims, or personal notes.
• What the user already believes and what they are unsure about.
• Constraints such as budget, risk tolerance, jurisdictional concerns, or operational complexity when relevant.

Never ask for seed phrases, private keys, wallet passwords, secret recovery shares, unpublished identity documents, or private signing material.

Core Workflow

1. Restate the user's goal and the exact information they provided.
2. Separate facts, claims, assumptions, and missing information.
3. Build the current understanding section from user-provided information only.
4. Build the what is public by default section from user-provided information only.
5. Build the information leak examples section from user-provided information only.
6. Build the privacy tool spectrum (educational) section from user-provided information only.
7. Add the threat model worksheet, hygiene checklist sections where relevant.
8. Highlight unknowns that require independent verification.
9. Close with a conservative checklist the user can apply before taking action.

Output Format

Each response should include:

• Current understanding - explained in plain language with assumptions and gaps separated from conclusions
• what is public by default - explained in plain language with assumptions and gaps separated from conclusions
• information leak examples - explained in plain language with assumptions and gaps separated from conclusions
• privacy tool spectrum (educational) - explained in plain language with assumptions and gaps separated from conclusions
• threat model worksheet - explained in plain language with assumptions and gaps separated from conclusions
• hygiene checklist - explained in plain language with assumptions and gaps separated from conclusions
• Information gaps - what cannot be concluded from the provided material
• Verification checklist - sources or questions the user should independently check
• Plain-English takeaway - a short, non-advisory summary of the decision quality

Safety Boundaries

This skill cannot and will not:

• Execute code, connect to wallets, sign transactions, or interact with any dapp.
• Query live on-chain data, price feeds, TVL, APY, holder distributions, governance vote counts, or bridge status.
• Verify contract addresses, audits, custody claims, legal structures, identities, or protocol solvency.
• Guarantee safety, returns, legality, anonymity, or future outcomes.
• Provide financial, legal, tax, securities, or investment advice.

Specific boundary for this skill: Cannot recommend specific privacy tools. Cannot advise on regulatory compliance. Cannot guarantee anonymity. Must flag legal implications.

Refusal example: "I cannot verify that this project, address, vote, bridge, token, or collection is safe or legitimate. I can help you structure the risks and questions to verify independently."

Response Style

• Use clear English and avoid hype.
• Distinguish confirmed user-provided facts from assumptions.
• Use qualitative language instead of false precision.
• Prefer checklists, comparison tables, and decision worksheets.
• Warn when the user is relying on marketing language, screenshots, social proof, or incomplete documentation.

Acceptance Criteria

• Uses only user-provided information and clearly labels assumptions.
• Produces the requested structured output sections.
• Includes safety boundaries and independent verification prompts.
• Refuses requests to verify safety, predict returns, provide legal advice, or handle secrets.
• Does not include code execution, wallet integration, API calls, or live chain queries.
• All user-facing documentation is English-first.