Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposes a simplified layer-1 privacy roadmap

Vitalik Buterin has shared a new proposal aimed at improving user privacy on Ethereum without making big changes to the network itself.

In an Apr.11 post on the Ethereum Magicians forum, the Ethereum (ETH) co-founder explained how wallets and developers could take small but meaningful steps to protect users without waiting for long-term upgrades to the core protocol. Buterin’s post stresses the need to integrate privacy tools, like Railgun and privacy pools, directly into existing wallets. 

Instead of building separate apps, the goal is to make privacy a natural part of how users send and receive funds. Wallets could include shielded balances and allow users to send transactions privately by default. 

To support this, the roadmap includes a call to adopt FOCIL and EIP-7701, two technical upgrades that make it easier to run privacy protocols like Tornado Cash and Railgun without needing centralized relayers.

Another part of the plan builds on privacy at the UX level, encouraging users to use a separate wallet address for each app they interact with. This would make it harder for outside observers to link someone’s actions across different platforms.

The proposal also touches on improving privacy when apps connect to the Ethereum network. For now, trusted execution environments could help protect user data. But in the future, Buterin suggests switching to private information retrieval, a more secure solution that’s not yet efficient enough for use.

Buterin’s proposal doesn’t require changes to Ethereum’s base layer, making it easier to adopt. However, some of these changes would come with trade-offs in user experience and convenience, which may slow adoption.

This proposal comes at a time when Ethereum’s market performance is under pressure. As of Apr. 11, Ethereum is trading at around $1,547, a 20% decline in the past two weeks, as per crypto.news price tracker. The cryptocurrency closed Q1 45% down. In addition, it has lost 77% against Bitcoin since December 2021, according to Santiment data.

One Santiment analyst noted that new updates are making it harder for average investors to understand the project’s roadmap. While many altcoins have outperformed it, Ethereum’s growth has slowed, partly due to constant changes and unclear messaging.

The analyst also pointed out the growing competition from newer, simpler blockchains as among the reasons for Ethereum’s falling price.