"Most dApps Betray Privacy"- Lefteris Karapetsas, Rotki. w Peter Farbey | Web3Privacy Now Academy

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

In this Privacy Academy Interview, Lefteris Karapetsas (Founder of Rotki) dives into the challenges of building privacy-respecting software in Web3, the tension between transparency and privacy on Ethereum, and why financial self-sovereignty matters. This interview is a must-watch for anyone building in Web3, caring about financial privacy, or questioning the current state of dApps, AI, and decentralized infrastructure. Lefteris Karapetsas: https://x.com/lefterisjp Rotki: https://rotki.com/ 00:00 – Introduction: Who is Lefteris Karapetsas & what is Rotki 01:25 – Why he built Rotki: FOSS, financial transparency & privacy 02:11 – What is Rotki? How it preserves data 04:00 – Dapps building challenges 06:01 – Dapps building approach advice 06:55 – On decentralisation and privacy 07:46 – How to survive and be sustainable 09:25 – Why more projects should charge users 10:35 – Dilemma of privacy & transparency in Ethereum 13:42 – Practical advice on how to be private online 15:15 – How does the internet of the future look? 18:23 – Hot take on AI. How to use it privately? 21.49 – Final reco: piece of culture to enrich your mind ... This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews – a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info/p/interviews A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!