Ethereum News Today: Ethereum's Kohaku Roadmap: Shielding Wallets from Surveillance Without Sacrificing Transparency

Ethereum developers have unveiled the Kohaku roadmap, a strategic initiative aimed at enhancing wallet privacy and security through a modular framework designed for both developers and advanced users. The project, announced in a blog post by Ethereum Foundation coordinator Nicolas Consigny, outlines the development of a privacy and security SDK for Ethereum wallets, alongside a reference wallet implementation. The first release, a browser extension based on the Ambire wallet, targets advanced users seeking greater control and privacy. Kohaku is being developed collaboratively with ecosystem teams, including Ambire, Railgun, DeFi Wonderland, Helios, and Oblivious Labs, and is open-source, inviting contributions via public repositories. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, has emphasized privacy as a critical priority, aligning with the project's goals.

The Kohaku roadmap is structured around key features to minimize reliance on centralized services. These include via privacy protocols, through network-level routing, to isolate identities, and that bypasses public RPC servers. The project also integrates social recovery options using zero-knowledge techniques like ZK Email and Anon Aadhaar, enabling account recovery without exposing sensitive identifiers. Additionally, Kohaku introduces a using Falcon/Dilithium cryptography to safeguard against future quantum threats. These features aim to shift privacy controls to wallet-side primitives and decentralized networks, reducing surveillance risks associated with centralized infrastructure.

The Ethereum Foundation has formalized its privacy efforts through the , a dedicated team of 47 researchers, engineers, and cryptographers led by Igor Barinov. This cluster builds on the work of the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) team and focuses on protocol-level privacy solutions, including private payments, confidential identity systems, and zero-knowledge infrastructure. The Privacy Cluster will also support initiatives like , a layer-2 network for confidential transfers, and tools to prevent RPC node metadata leaks. By centralizing these efforts, the Ethereum Foundation aims to address surveillance vulnerabilities and ensure privacy becomes a "first-class property" of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Kohaku's development aligns with broader regulatory and technical challenges. The project incorporates such as zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs), fully homomorphic encryption, and trusted execution environments (TEEs) to meet compliance standards, including the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A modular architecture proposed by Ethereum community member Eugenio Reggianini suggests pushing personal data to the edges of the network (e.g., wallets and DApps) while using off-chain storage and metadata erasure to minimize data exposure. This approach positions Ethereum to reconcile its transparent ledger with GDPR requirements, ensuring user privacy without compromising decentralization.

The initiative has garnered support from institutional and individual stakeholders. The Ethereum Foundation's is translating compliance and operational requirements into specifications for real-world use cases, addressing concerns about global supply chain and financial operation transparency. Projects like Aster, a decentralized exchange using zero-knowledge proofs to separate order intent from execution, demonstrate the practical application of these privacy tools. Meanwhile, the Privacy Cluster's focus on user experience improvements aims to normalize privacy tools for mainstream adoption.

Ethereum's privacy roadmap underscores the network's commitment to balancing transparency with user autonomy. By embedding privacy primitives at layer 1 and leveraging decentralized infrastructure, the project seeks to protect sensitive data while maintaining the integrity of public blockchain principles. As the Privacy Cluster and Kohaku roadmap advance, Ethereum aims to establish a framework where privacy is both technically feasible and institutionally viable, addressing growing regulatory scrutiny and surveillance risks.

Source: [1] Cointelegraph (https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-devs-unveil-kohaku-wallet-privacy-roadmap)

[2] Coinotag (https://en.coinotag.com/ethereums-kohaku-may-bolster-wallet-privacy-and-security-with-modular-sdk-zero-knowledge-recovery-and-decentralized-transaction-handling/)

[3] Cryptopolitan (https://www.cryptopolitan.com/ethereum-foundation-to-launch-privacy-cluster-including-kohaku-wallet-and-privacy-sdk/)

[4] Cointribune (https://www.cointribune.com/en/ethereum-bolsters-its-protocols-to-counter-digital-surveillance-threats/)

[5] Coindesk (https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/10/09/ethereum-foundation-expands-privacy-push-with-dedicated-research-cluster)

[7] Theblock (https://www.theblock.co/post/373951/ethereum-foundation-creates-privacy-cluster)

[8] European Blockchain Association (https://europeanblockchainassociation.org/2025/06/09/a-turning-point-for-blockchain-regulation-in-europe/)

[9] Cryptomus (https://cryptomus.com/blog/ethereum-foundation-launches-privacy-cluster-to-boost-on-chain-privacy-news)

[11] Thecurrencyanalytics (https://thecurrencyanalytics.com/altcoins/ethereum-proposes-gdpr-compliant-privacy-roadmap-with-modular-blockchain-design-179593)

[12] Cointelegraph (https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-modular-architecture-gdpr-privacy-proposal)