{"id":33332,"date":"2026-08-17T14:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/?p=33332"},"modified":"2026-08-17T14:51:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:51:37","slug":"ethereums-plan-to-make-privacy-no-longer-optional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/ethereums-plan-to-make-privacy-no-longer-optional","title":{"rendered":"Ethereum\u2019s plan to make privacy no longer optional."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Alternar tabla de contenidos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/ethereums-plan-to-make-privacy-no-longer-optional\/#what_you_can_and_cannot_see_in_an_ethereum_transaction_today\" >What you can and cannot see in an Ethereum transaction today<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/ethereums-plan-to-make-privacy-no-longer-optional\/#the_privacy_cluster_what_it_is_and_who_is_involved\" >The Privacy Cluster: what it is and who is involved<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/ethereums-plan-to-make-privacy-no-longer-optional\/#zero-knowledge_proofs_the_mathematical_foundation_behind_it_all\" >Zero-knowledge proofs: the mathematical foundation behind it all<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/ethereums-plan-to-make-privacy-no-longer-optional\/#three_areas_already_being_worked_on\" >Three areas already being worked on<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/ethereums-plan-to-make-privacy-no-longer-optional\/#what_it_means_for_privacy_to_be_built_in_rather_than_added_on\" >What it means for privacy to be built in rather than added on<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 5<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anyone with an internet connection can open a block explorer, paste in an Ethereum address and <\/span><b>see how much it has sent, to whom and on what date<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That complete transparency, initially presented as one of the network\u2019s technical strengths, has become the <\/span><b>main obstacle to many everyday use cases<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The Ethereum Foundation has responded with the <\/span><b>Privacy Cluster<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a team of 47 professionals tasked with building privacy into the network itself rather than leaving it as an extra feature that each user has to configure.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what_you_can_and_cannot_see_in_an_ethereum_transaction_today\"><\/span><b>What you can and cannot see in an Ethereum transaction today<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Every transaction recorded on the network includes five pieces of information<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: the sender address, the recipient address, the amount transferred, the exact date and a cryptographic signature validating the transaction. All of this is public. Anyone can open Etherscan, enter an address and view the complete transaction history associated with it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does not appear is the real name of the person who owns that address. The address acts as an alphanumeric pseudonym. The problem is that this pseudonym leaves a permanent trail: every purchase through a service with identity verification, every withdrawal and every interaction with a decentralised application adds another clue. Over time, combining enough data can make it possible to link a specific address to a specific person. The privacy Ethereum provides by default is not real privacy, but rather <\/span><b>pseudonymity with an expiry date.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33334 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_public_transactions-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"bitnovo_ethereum_public_transactions\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_public_transactions-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_public_transactions-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_public_transactions-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_public_transactions.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"the_privacy_cluster_what_it_is_and_who_is_involved\"><\/span><b>The Privacy Cluster: what it is and who is involved<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On 8 October 2025, the Ethereum Foundation officially announced the creation of the<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/coindesk.com\/tech\/2025\/10\/09\/ethereum-foundation-expands-privacy-push-with-dedicated-research-cluster\"> <b>Privacy Cluster<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in a post titled \u201cOur Commitment to Privacy\u201d. The team brings together 47 researchers, engineers and cryptographers coordinated by Igor Barinov, founder of Blockscout and xDai.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Privacy Cluster does not work in isolation. It coordinates with Privacy Stewards of Ethereum (PSE), the initiative launched in September 2025 after the team previously known as Privacy &amp; Scaling Explorations was renamed. It also works with the Institutional Privacy Task Force, which is responsible for aligning technical developments with regulatory requirements in different countries. The overall goal is clear:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/main-differences-between-bitcoin-and-ethereum\"> <b>to make privacy a native property of Ethereum<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, rather than an add-on that depends on third-party applications.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"zero-knowledge_proofs_the_mathematical_foundation_behind_it_all\"><\/span><b>Zero-knowledge proofs: the mathematical foundation behind it all<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>zero-knowledge proof<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a cryptographic method that makes it possible to prove that a statement is true without revealing the information behind it. A useful everyday example: imagine you need to prove in a shop that you are old enough to buy something. Today, you show your ID and the person serving you can see your name, address, photo and full date of birth. With a zero-knowledge proof, the system confirms just one thing: whether or not you are over 18. None of the other information is revealed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33335 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-cluster-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-cluster\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-cluster-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-cluster-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-cluster-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-cluster-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-cluster-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Applied to Ethereum, the mechanism <\/span><b>makes it possible to prove that a transaction is valid<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (that the person signing it has the funds and that the transaction follows the network\u2019s rules) <\/span><b>while keeping the sender\u2019s identity, the amount transferred and the recipient hidden<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The network accepts the transaction because the mathematical proof is valid, without needing access to the underlying data.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"three_areas_already_being_worked_on\"><\/span><b>Three areas already being worked on<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first is <\/span><b>private transfers of ETH and ERC-20 tokens<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Tom Lehman, co-founder of the Layer 2 network Facet, proposed EIP-8182 for inclusion in the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/ethereum-hegota-update-2026\"> <b>Ethereum Hegota upgrade<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The proposal defines a system for private transfers using a <\/span><b>shielded pool<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> contract for ETH and compatible ERC-20 tokens. The design allows private transfers to any existing Ethereum address or ENS name, without requiring a privacy-specific address format. The proposal is still under public discussion among Ethereum core developers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second area is <\/span><b>private queries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. When a wallet asks a node for the balance of an address, that node can see both the request and the response, allowing it to infer which accounts the user is interested in or which IP address the request came from. The team is working on privacy-preserving RPC services after finding that standard RPC calls can leak personal information such as an IP address or the accounts a user is interested in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33336 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_private-transfers-1024x581.jpg\" alt=\"bitnovo_ethereum_private\" width=\"1024\" height=\"581\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_private-transfers-1024x581.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_private-transfers-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_private-transfers-768x436.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_private-transfers-1536x872.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_private-transfers.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The third area is <\/span><b>Kohaku<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It is a <\/span><b>privacy-focused wallet<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and SDK designed to give users greater control over their transaction data. The idea is to allow other wallets and applications to integrate these capabilities without having to build the entire cryptographic infrastructure from scratch.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what_it_means_for_privacy_to_be_built_in_rather_than_added_on\"><\/span><b>What it means for privacy to be built in rather than added on<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/ethereum-wants-to-be-the-neutral-arbiter-of-an-internet-dominated-by-ai\"> <b>an Ethereum user<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who wants privacy has to rely on specific external tools. They can be technically demanding to use, liquidity is fragmented across different applications and some of these tools have attracted regulatory scrutiny because of their links to money laundering. As a result, privacy remains, in practice, a niche area mainly used by advanced users.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Building it into the network changes that logic.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If protection comes directly from the protocol, the average user does not need to configure anything special or download additional applications: privacy can be enabled when they send a transaction from their usual wallet. This raises an open question that the Ethereum Foundation itself acknowledges: how to reconcile that privacy with the need to audit transactions when required by law. This is where concepts such as <\/span><b>selective disclosure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> come in, allowing users themselves to decide what information to reveal, to whom and at a specific moment, without making that information available to everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33337 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-future-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-future\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-future-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-future-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-future-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bitnovo_ethereum_privacy-future.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Ethereum was built around a model of radical transparency, and that model underpinned much of its technical credibility during its early years.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> When the network was still an experiment followed by only a few thousand developers, complete traceability was not a problem. Now that it is beginning to operate as infrastructure for payments, digital identity, governance and financial applications used by millions of people, the complete lack of privacy has become a practical limitation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Privacy Cluster<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> marks the first time this shift has been addressed in a structured way, with a dedicated team, its own budget and a public roadmap. It is still too early to know which proposals will eventually be activated and which will be discarded along the way, but the direction of the work is already clear.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 5<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span>Anyone with an internet connection can open a block explorer, paste in an Ethereum address and see how much it has sent, to whom and on what date. That complete transparency, initially presented as one of the network\u2019s technical strengths, has become the main obstacle to many everyday use cases. The Ethereum Foundation has responded [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":33326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[185,165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain-en","category-cryptocurrencies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33332"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33360,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33332\/revisions\/33360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}