As discussions about much-needed privacy improvements intensify among the Ethereum community, Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator of this blockchain platform, steps up to share his opinion.
Vitalik Buterin replied to public comments regarding the urge to boost privacy settings for his brainchild, the Ethereum blockchain, with his own plan on improving users’ confidentiality with minimal changes to the Ethereum consensus mechanism.
The Ethereum co-founder suggested focusing on four crucial aspects that can help the network reach higher privacy levels without overthrowing the whole ecosystem. His first idea is to implement tools like Railgun and Privacy Pools directly into wallets to allow users to manage shielded balances seamlessly. Next, Buterin proposed to prevent users from using the same addresses for various on-chain apps. If they keep separate addresses for different applications they interact with, users’ actions across services can’t be easily connected.
The third part of the scheme is utilizing special secure technologies like Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and, eventually, Private Information Retrieval (PIR) techniques to protect data accessed from the blockchain. Finally, the Ethereum co-founder suggested allowing wallets to connect through multiple routes (like mixnets) to hide user location and identity details when using the network.
In addition, Buterin recommended implementing new technical standards EIP-7701 and FOCIL for better account abstraction and censorship resistance, as well as developing proof aggregation protocols to reduce gas costs for privacy-preserving transactions. These upgrades will supposedly make privacy tools cheaper to use and harder to block, as well as lower transaction costs.
The given roadmap was published in response to active online debates on enhancing privacy within the Ethereum ecosystem. Thus, on X (formerly Twitter), user @pcaversaccio emphasised the importance of unconditional privacy on Ethereum, drafting their own potential roadmap according to their vision and shared the plan for community feedback.
The proposal titled “Ethereum Privacy: The Road to Self-Sovereignty” outlines a vision for enhancing privacy on the Ethereum network, transforming the blockchain into a privacy-first, self-sovereign financial system. It advocates for making privacy a standard feature on Ethereum, ensuring all user transactions and activities are private by default, without requiring users to take extra steps (like opting in or out).
The document acknowledges current issues like address reuse, public contract data, and network metadata leakage that compromise user privacy. To address these challenges, the proposal suggests integrating privacy-preserving technologies directly into Ethereum’s core infrastructure. The discussed changes include stealth one-time addresses that enhance recipient anonymity; zero-knowledge proofs – cryptographic methods that allow transaction validation without revealing transaction details, and privacy-focused wallets that support private transactions and shielded balances.
The proposal highlights that while privacy tools can be used for malicious purposes, restricting access to these tools would infringe on individual freedoms.
Ameen Soleimani, the founder and CEO of SpankChain, the co-creator of MolochDAO, and the co-founder of Reflexer Labs, which created RAI, commented on this roadmap with a critique of the “privacy by default” idea for Ethereum’s base layer (L1) unless tools are developed that allow users to disconnect or dissociate from other users, especially those involved in illicit activities. He explained that the network might unintentionally force users to provide privacy to people they don’t want to be associated with, like hackers or terrorists. In that case, the unintentional associates might face challenges while using their funds in other, trustworthy systems.
Soleimani emphasises that proving the legitimacy of funds is important for fighting money laundering. Tools like Tornado Cash and ZCash allow users to selectively reveal transaction details to authorities when needed. This could help separate criminal activity from ordinary transactions and allow users to publicly dissociate from illicit money.
Privacy is an important issue in today’s digital world, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies. As more financial transactions move online, the need for secure and private transactions has grown. While the Etereum community discusses how to make the blockchain and ETH crypto more privacy-focused, you might want to check how Bitcoin and Zcash protect user privacy.
