Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has introduced a new privacy roadmap to strengthen onchain anonymity—without altering Ethereum’s core protocol. The plan, shared on April 11 via the Ethereum Magicians forum, proposes several improvements aimed at making everyday Ethereum usage more private and secure.
Why Ethereum Needs Better Privacy
Ethereum’s public blockchain structure allows anyone to trace a wallet’s full activity. From transactions to app interactions, everything is transparent. While this ensures trust, it also exposes sensitive user data.
Buterin emphasized that current privacy levels are “weak” and need urgent improvement. His plan focuses on enhancing user experience while keeping Ethereum’s architecture intact.
Four Pillars of the Privacy Plan
Vitalik’s privacy roadmap is centered around four key features:
- 🔒 Private onchain payments
- 🕶️ Limited anonymity within dApps
- 👁️ Private data reads
- 🌐 Network-level protections
One of the most impactful ideas is assigning different addresses for each app a user interacts with. Though this adds some complexity, it helps separate activities across platforms—improving user privacy.
Recommended Tools and Wallet Integration
To bring these privacy features to life, Buterin recommends wallet providers like MetaMask and Rabby adopt tools like Railgun and Privacy Pools. These can offer default shielded balances and private token transfers.
He also encourages private transfers between a user’s own wallets, further promoting the one-address-per-app concept.
Technical Solutions Without Protocol Changes
Buterin’s proposal avoids changes to Ethereum’s base protocol. Instead, it pushes for wallet-side upgrades and developer adoption.
Some of his other suggestions include:
- 🔁 RPC rotation and mixnets to mask data transmission
- 🛡️ Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) for short-term protection
- 🔐 Private Information Retrieval (PIR) for long-term cryptographic security
- 🧮 Proof aggregation to reduce gas fees while preserving privacy
He also supports upcoming standards like FOCIL and EIP-7701, which allow privacy tools to operate without relying on centralized relays.
Developers Urged to Act Now
With Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade launching on May 7, privacy discussions are more relevant than ever. The Pectra upgrade recently passed testing on the Holesky testnet and introduces native account abstraction. However, Buterin clarified that his roadmap doesn’t rely on this upgrade.
He’s calling on developers and wallet teams to integrate these tools now—not later. Waiting for future protocol-level changes might delay much-needed privacy improvements.
