Hey I'll answer your questions:

1. Monero is decentralized, it uses PoW and doesn't rely on validators and all that crap

2. Monero is private by design. Privacy is mandatory, not an option (unlike Zcash and Dash)

Keep in mind that someone witth enough information can infer your identity through Network Metadata. The best you can do is run a local node and use Tor 😉