Ethereum developers are embarking on a significant initiative to bolster privacy across the second-largest blockchain, reinforcing a fundamental principle of the cryptocurrency community. In a recent announcement, the Ethereum Foundation’s team previously known as ‘Privacy & Scaling Explorations’ has rebranded to ‘Privacy Stewards of Ethereum’ (PSE), and outlined a strategic roadmap aimed at embedding comprehensive end-to-end privacy into Ethereum’s architecture.
The PSE team emphasizes their goal of making privacy an intrinsic aspect of Ethereum’s functionality—spanning protocols, infrastructure, applications, and wallets. This initiative seeks to integrate privacy into major use cases on Ethereum, including finance, identity management, and governance. Importantly, the team reassured that these enhanced privacy features will be developed in compliance with global regulatory standards.
The importance of privacy on Ethereum is underscored by the team’s assertion that safeguarding user data is essential as the blockchain evolves into a potential settlement layer for global transactions. The team wisely cautioned, “Without strong privacy, it risks becoming the backbone of global surveillance rather than global freedom.” To maintain user interest and institutional trust, robust privacy measures are deemed necessary to prevent migration away from the platform, which could undermine its very relevance.
To realize their vision, the PSE team has identified three primary focus areas: private reads, private writes, and private proving.
Private Reads: This aspect aims to allow users to interact with Ethereum without disclosing their identities or intentions. The initiative will include the development of privacy-preserving Remote Procedure Call (RPC) services to mitigate the risks of exposing sensitive data, such as IP addresses and user interests. To facilitate this, a private RPC working group has been formed, consisting of both internal experts and external advisors.
Private Writes: The PSE team is also determined to make private transactions on Ethereum both feasible and economical. This will simplify processes such as transferring funds privately, casting votes, or engaging with applications. Progress in this area will be supported by ongoing work on PlasmaFold, an experimental Layer 2 chain designed to enhance private transfer capabilities.
Private Proving: Finally, the team seeks to ensure that any data validation processes on Ethereum are conducted privately and remain accessible. Their roadmap includes targets like enhancing data portability and establishing private identities for data proving.
While the PSE team is committed to these focus areas, they recognize that specific priorities and projects may evolve with the changing landscape of the ecosystem. However, they anticipate that the overarching themes of this initiative will persist over the coming years, underlining their commitment to fostering a more private environment for Ethereum users.
