Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed concerns about a new feature rolled out by X, formerly Twitter, that reveals an account holder's country. He agreed with cryptocurrency users who flagged potential privacy issues associated with this functionality.
Nikita Bier, X's director of product, announced the feature's rollout on Saturday, stating it was intended to enhance platform integrity and allow users to verify information.
Buterin initially suggested that while some accounts might attempt to misrepresent their country of origin, the change could offer benefits, such as increased insight into how different communities perceive various issues.
However, numerous cryptocurrency users voiced apprehension, fearing that malicious actors could exploit the feature to identify and target high-net-worth investors for personal attacks, among other privacy-related worries.
Buterin later revised his stance, acknowledging the validity of the responders' concerns. He stated that revealing a user's country without their consent and without an opt-out option, even if it means ceasing to use the account, is problematic.
In most cases, revealing country still leaves a very large anonymity set, but there are some people for whom even a few bits of leakage are risky, and they should not have their privacy retroactively rugpulled with no recourse.
Crypto Executives Echo Privacy Concerns
Hayden Adams, the founder of Uniswap, also strongly opposed the new feature, labeling it as "opt-in doxing is fine, mandatory doxing is psychotic."
Andrei David, chief technology officer at the decentralized finance platform Summer.fi, shared similar concerns regarding the privacy implications.
David elaborated, "The problem isn’t showing country; it’s forcing everyone into visibility without notice. A privacy-sensitive feature should always start with the least revealing setting."
Crypto Users Share Opt-Out Methods
Bier mentioned that X had implemented a privacy toggle specifically for users in countries where speech carries penalties, allowing them to display only their region.
An X user known as "Langerius," a lead at the Web3 community and consulting group Hunters of Web3, provided instructions on how concerned users can opt out of the new feature.
Langerius explained, "If you want to hide it: 1- turn it off: settings & privacy → privacy & safety → disable country visibility 2- or switch from country to region/continent in same menu."
Mixed Reactions to the Feature
Some X users expressed a more positive view of the new feature. A few argued that in a country as large as the United States, with a population of approximately 350 million, revealing an account's country would not easily lead to individual identification.
Others, including crypto venture capitalist Nic Carter, contended that the feature is necessary to prevent overseas accounts from attempting to interfere in political matters by falsely claiming to be from a specific country.