Vitalik Buterin Pushes for Privacy-Focused Ethereum Changes in New Roadmap

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has unveiled a sweeping roadmap aimed at enhancing user privacy on the blockchain. The proposal outlines incremental improvements that could make private transactions the default for everyday users – without requiring major changes to Ethereum’s core consensus protocol.

A Privacy-First Vision

In an April 11 post on the Ethereum Magicians forum, Buterin laid out how wallets, addresses, and network-level anonymity tools could be upgraded to promote a more discreet user experience. He explained that private interactions and anonymized addresses are central to preserving confidentiality across applications:

“This roadmap can be combined with a longer-term roadmap that makes deeper changes to L1, or privacy-preserving application-specific rollups, or other more complex features.”
– Vitalik Buterin

The roadmap highlights four key forms of privacy, each addressed by short- and long-term solutions:

1. On-chain Payment Privacy – Enhancing privacy features for everyday transactions.
2. Partial Anonymization of In-App Activity – Preventing public links between different applications used by the same individual.
3. Privacy of On-Chain Reads – Leveraging cryptographic tools to keep data queries confidential.
4. Network-Level Anonymity – Relying on specialized solutions like Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) or Private Information Retrieval (PIR).

Key Proposals

1. Privacy Tools in Wallets
   Buterin envisions default “shielded balances” integrated into popular wallets, letting users keep transactions private without resorting to specialized privacy wallets.
2. One Address Per Application
   Buterin suggests using unique addresses for each decentralized application (dApp) to keep user activity separate. He acknowledges that this imposes usability challenges but argues it’s the most direct path to removing publicly linked transactions across apps.
3. Privacy for “Send-to-Self” Transfers
   This is essential for maintaining privacy in a one-address-per-app ecosystem. Such transactions let users move assets among their own addresses without exposing details.
4. TEEs and PIR for Network-Level Privacy
   The roadmap proposes short-term solutions using Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) for RPC privacy, combined with expanded security for RPC nodes. Private Information Retrieval (PIR) could later provide a trust-minimized way to hide metadata from third-party providers.
5. Long-Term Upgrades
   Over time, deeper changes like EIP-7701 (account abstraction) and FOCIL (Fork-Choice enforced Inclusion Lists) could minimize reliance on centralized relays and further boost privacy. These changes, Buterin says, would help build censorship resistance and ensure robust anonymity.

Community Reaction

Buterin’s plan quickly drew praise from many Ethereum participants, who have long sought better privacy for users. Some see it as a logical extension of other ongoing improvements, such as the Pectra upgrade, which focuses on performance and usability.

Still, a few remain cautious about the complexities of implementing advanced cryptographic tools without overwhelming Layer-1 capacity. Even so, the overarching sentiment is that Vitalik Buterin’s Privacy Roadmap signals Ethereum’s drive to remain at the forefront of user-centric blockchain design.

“Vitalik’s finally giving privacy the attention it deserves,” one analyst noted. “This roadmap looks like a solid step toward making Ethereum more user-friendly without messing with consensus.”

The proposal arrives as Ethereum continues to refine its ecosystem, with daily volumes in DeFi, NFTs, and stablecoins still dominating the broader crypto market. If successful, Buterin’s incremental path to privacy may help Ethereum thrive as both a flexible development platform and a beacon for user-centric innovation.