Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, emphasized in a new note that privacy should be the main priority for Ethereum developers. He warned that assumptions about transparency and good intentions in global policy are overly optimistic. Buterin argued that privacy is essential to safeguard personal freedom and protect against the growing power of governments and companies. He criticized the idea of increasing transparency as inherently flawed and based on outdated assumptions about human nature. Buterin primarily proposed solutions based on Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK-proofs) as they enable precise control over who can see what information. He also mentioned systems like proof-of-personhood based on ZK-proofs, privacy pools, and anti-fraud scans. This note follows Buterin’s recent roadmap for privacy in Ethereum.
