Ethereum News Today: Ethereum's Privacy Push Counters Surveillance, Regulatory Threats

The Ethereum Foundation has announced the formation of a 47-member Privacy Cluster to advance protocol-level privacy features on the Ethereum layer-1 network. This team, coordinated by Igor Barinov and working alongside the Privacy Stewards for Ethereum (PSE), will focus on zero-knowledge infrastructure, confidential transfers, and RPC metadata protection to enable private payments and decentralized identity solutions. The initiative aims to address rising global surveillance risks, including regulatory pressures like the European Union's proposed Chat Control law, which critics argue could undermine encryption standards and user privacyEthereum Foundation’s Privacy Cluster May Advance Layer‑1 Private Payments and Decentralized Identity^[1].

Key projects under the Privacy Cluster include PlasmaFold, an experimental Layer-2 design for confidential transfers, and tools to minimize metadata leakage in remote procedure call (RPC) nodes. The team will also develop private proving systems to verify eligibility and identity without disclosing sensitive information. These efforts align with Ethereum's broader roadmap to integrate privacy as a "first-class property," ensuring usability for both individuals and institutions while maintaining compliance with regulatory frameworksThe Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to Privacy^[11].

The Privacy Stewards for Ethereum (PSE), rebranded from the former Secrecy & Scaling Explorations team, has outlined a three-year roadmap emphasizing secure writes, secure reads, and private proving. Secure writes aim to make private on-chain actions as seamless as public transactions, while secure reads focus on accessing blockchain data without exposing user identities. Private proving will enable efficient zero-knowledge proofs on standard devices, reducing computational barriers for developers and usersEthereum May Adopt End-to-End Privacy via PlasmaFold L2, …^[10].

Contextualizing the urgency for privacy, the EU's Chat Control proposal-mandating pre-encryption scanning of messages-has intensified concerns about surveillance and data security. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has publicly opposed the law, warning that backdoors for law enforcement could compromise overall system integrity and expose users to hacking risksTime Is Running Out: Why the EU’s “Chat Control” Threatens …^[7]. The Privacy Cluster's work is positioned to counter such regulatory pressures while preserving Ethereum's decentralized ethos.

For institutions, the Privacy Cluster's initiatives aim to bridge operational and compliance requirements with cryptographic privacy. Projects like the Institutional Privacy Task Force (IPTF) will translate regulatory needs into privacy specifications, enabling secure transactions in real-world applications such as decentralized finance (DeFi), identity verification, and governance. Kohaku, a privacy-preserving wallet and SDK, will further democratize access to strong cryptography for everyday usersEthereum Foundation’s Privacy Cluster May Advance Layer‑1 Private Payments and Decentralized Identity^[1].

The roadmap emphasizes staged deployment, with testnet prototypes and security audits preceding mainnet integration. Early priorities include PlasmaFold's confidential transfer experiments and confidential RPC node designs to prevent metadata leaks. The Ethereum Foundation and PSE will publish milestones as development progresses, with specific timelines varying by featureThe Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to Privacy^[11].

Critics of the EU's Chat Control law argue that weakening encryption could set a global precedent, encouraging authoritarian regimes to adopt similar surveillance measures. Privacy advocates, including Ethereum researchers, stress that decentralized systems must prioritize user control over data while maintaining verifiability. The Privacy Cluster's focus on protocol-level privacy aligns with this philosophy, ensuring Ethereum remains a resilient platform for financial and digital autonomyTime Is Running Out: Why the EU’s “Chat Control” Threatens …^[7].