Ethereum News Today: Ethereum Aims to Add SSL for Blockchain, Boosting Privacy and Adoption

The Ethereum Foundation has announced the establishment of a dedicated Privacy Tech Team as part of its broader Privacy cluster, aiming to enhance the network's privacy features across its technical stack. The initiative, coordinated by Igor Barinov, includes 47 researchers, engineers, and cryptographers focused on advancing privacy at the protocol, infrastructure, and application layers. The team builds on the work of the Privacy & Scaling Explorations (PSE) group, which has already developed over 50 open-source projects, including tools like Semaphore for anonymous signaling and MACI for private voting The Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to Privacy^[1].

The PSE team has rebranded as "Privacy Stewards for Ethereum," signaling a shift from exploratory cryptography research to problem-driven solutions addressing Ethereum's surveillance vulnerabilities. The new roadmap prioritizes three core areas: private writes (enabling low-cost, seamless on-chain actions), private reads (surveillance-free blockchain queries), and private proving (accessible data verification without information disclosure). These efforts align with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's advocacy for privacy as essential to the network's long-term viability, particularly as institutions and users demand protections against public blockchain transparency Ethereum Foundation's Privacy Team Rebrands as PSE, Unveils End-to-End Onchain Privacy Roadmap^[2].

Key projects under the Privacy cluster include PlasmaFold, a layer-2 solution combining plasma architecture with zero-knowledge folding to aggregate multiple proofs into one, and Kohaku, a privacy-preserving wallet and SDK designed to make strong cryptography accessible. The Institutional Privacy Task Force (IPTF) is also being launched to bridge regulatory and operational requirements with privacy specifications, targeting use cases in real-world assets (RWAs), payments, and compliance The Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to Privacy^[1].

Industry experts warn that public blockchain transparency poses significant barriers to mass adoption. British Gold Trust's Petro Golovko has likened current crypto transparency to pre-SSL internet, where users avoided entering sensitive data due to lack of encryption. He argues that without privacy, crypto will remain niche, unable to scale into serious commerce. Similarly, the Ethereum Foundation's roadmap emphasizes that privacy is critical for institutions to protect trade secrets and competitive advantages, while developers can build safer applications with reduced liability Ethereum Foundation's Privacy Team Rebrands as PSE, Unveils End-to-End Onchain Privacy Roadmap^[2].

The Privacy cluster's approach spans the entire stack, from cryptographic research to user experience improvements. Projects like Private RPC working groups and ORAM integration aim to enable privacy-preserving state reads, while sphinx mixing protocols enhance broadcast privacy. The team also plans to accelerate adoption through community initiatives, ensuring privacy becomes a "first-class property" of Ethereum for individuals and institutions alike The Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to Privacy^[1].

Analysts note that Ethereum's privacy enhancements could unlock new use cases, such as confidential DeFi and secure governance. By addressing transparency risks, the network aims to attract institutional participation, which has been hindered by visible treasury movements and data exposure. The success of these efforts will depend on ecosystem collaboration, as highlighted by the Ethereum Foundation's commitment to complement existing privacy projects rather than compete with them Ethereum Foundation's Privacy Team Rebrands as PSE, Unveils End-to-End Onchain Privacy Roadmap^[2].