Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has released a proposal titled the “Minimal L1 Privacy Roadmap” on the Ethereum Magicians technical forum. The proposal outlines nine key strategies to strengthen user privacy on Ethereum. This plan focuses on seamless integration with existing wallets and emphasizes lightweight design, aiming to make privacy the default on Ethereum without altering its consensus mechanism.
Four Pillars: Defining Ethereum’s Future Privacy Blueprint
Vitalik’s proposal centers on enhancing privacy across the Ethereum ecosystem and focuses on four key areas:
- On-chain payment privacy: Concealing fund flows from public tracking.
- In-app activity anonymity: Disconnecting behavioral links between different dApps.
- On-chain data access confidentiality (e.g., RPC calls): Preventing collection of user interaction data.
- Network-layer anonymization: Reducing users’ identity exposure on the network.
These strategies aim not only for technical implementation but also for synergy with the existing ecosystem, thereby improving the overall user experience.
Practical Steps for Implementation
Vitalik laid out a series of actionable measures in the roadmap. Here are the key steps:
Start with Wallets: Integrate Privacy Features into Daily Use
He first recommends integrating privacy tools such as Railgun and Privacy Pools into mainstream wallets. Using the concept of “shielded balances,” users could default to private transfers without needing additional setup or apps.
As a side note, just days ago, Solana infrastructure provider Helius launched “Confidential Balances,” a zero-knowledge-based token privacy mechanism that enhances privacy while maintaining high transaction throughput.
One App, One Address: Breaking Linkages Between Applications
Vitalik advocates for a “one-address-per-application” model as a default setting in the future. Although this sacrifices some convenience, it greatly boosts anonymity. Ultimately, self-transfers (send-to-self) could automatically trigger privacy protections to further secure user transactions.
Technical Enhancements: FOCIL, EIP-7701, and RPC Protection
He also calls for implementing FOCIL (anti-censorship mechanisms) and EIP-7701 (account abstraction), which would simplify deploying privacy protocols. In the short term, RPC protection via Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) could be used, with a long-term vision of shifting to Private Information Retrieval (PIR) for stronger data privacy.
Multi-node, Multi-layer Protection: Preventing Data Leaks
Vitalik suggests wallets should connect to multiple RPC nodes by default, using mixnets for obfuscation, and that different apps should connect via separate nodes to avoid data centralization and exposure.
Reduce Costs, Improve Efficiency: Proof Aggregation Protocols
To lower the gas costs of using privacy protocols, he proposes “proof aggregation”—allowing multiple privacy transactions to share a single on-chain proof, improving scalability and reducing user expenses.
Private Keystores: Upgrading Account Validation in One Transaction
Vitalik also highlights the need for privacy-preserving keystore wallets that sync across L1 and L2. These wallets would allow account upgrades and private record-keeping to be automatically synced, without revealing on-chain data linkages.
Vitalik’s Vision: Privacy as Ethereum’s Default Setting
Ultimately, Vitalik envisions a future where:
- The majority of transactions include privacy by default
- Activities between applications are isolated
- Users are protected against multiple threats—including block observers and RPC nodes
This blueprint showcases not only technical innovation but also a commitment to decentralization and user sovereignty.
User-Centric: Community Actively Driving Ethereum’s Privacy Revolution
Vitalik’s proposal has sparked intense discussion within the community. He also shared this roadmap on X (formerly Twitter), emphasizing its lightweight design and ecosystem compatibility.
Meanwhile, Ethereum contributor @pcaversaccio recently released a similar roadmap titled “Ethereum Privacy: The Road to Self-Sovereignty,” which received a retweet and endorsement from Vitalik.
Both proposals focus on user-centric privacy design, highlighting a strong consensus within the Ethereum community on the importance of privacy.
The Privacy Evolution of Ethereum Has Begun
Vitalik’s “Minimal L1 Privacy Roadmap” marks a significant milestone in Ethereum’s privacy journey. By integrating with existing wallets and the broader ecosystem, Ethereum is moving steadily toward a “privacy-by-default” paradigm—covering payments, application activity, on-chain data access, and network-level protections.
With active participation from the community, the future of Ethereum privacy is taking shape.
