Ethereum Foundation’s Vision for a Private Blockchain
The Ethereum Foundation has officially released a comprehensive privacy roadmap aimed at making confidentiality the default standard across its blockchain ecosystem. The initiative, led by the Privacy Stewards of Ethereum (PSE) team—formerly known as Privacy & Scaling Explorations—focuses on building an end-to-end privacy framework for the network.
According to PSE, privacy in blockchain transactions should no longer be a rare feature, but an expected norm for every user. The team emphasizes that the roadmap is designed not only to explore theoretical technologies but also to solve practical challenges already faced in Ethereum’s growing ecosystem.
The Three Pillars of Ethereum’s Privacy Roadmap
The roadmap is structured around three fundamental goals:
- Private Transactions – Allowing users to send and receive funds without exposing transaction details or identities. Importantly, these transfers should cost no more than standard public transactions.
- Private Reads – Enabling users to access blockchain data without revealing their identity, intentions, or browsing behavior.
- Private Proofs – Scaling the generation and verification of cryptographic proofs in a way that reduces costs while improving efficiency.
Together, these pillars aim to create a seamless privacy layer that benefits not only individual users but also developers building decentralized applications (dApps).
Key Initiatives in Development
Over the next 3–6 months, PSE plans to deliver several initiatives, including:
- PlasmaFold Protocol – An experimental privacy-focused protocol featuring client-side proof generation and advanced scalability. The roadmap includes plans to integrate Proof-Carrying Data (PCD) and Folding concepts.
- Wallet Support – Expanding privacy features in the Kohaku crypto wallet.
- Private Voting – Publication of the State of Private Voting 2025 report, alongside new collaborations with developers of privacy-centric voting protocols and ongoing work with the Aragon team.
- RPC Privacy Group – Launch of a private working group dedicated to confidential RPC methods.
- zk-SNARK Standards – Advancing interoperability and usability of universal zk-SNARKs.
- DeFi Privacy – Supporting initiatives that strengthen confidentiality in decentralized finance.
A major milestone will be the presentation of the PlasmaFold prototype at the upcoming Devconnect conference in Argentina, scheduled for November 17, 2025.
A Strong Voice for Privacy
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has long advocated for privacy in blockchain systems, recently criticizing modern devices for excessive personal data collection. The new roadmap underscores Ethereum’s commitment to ensuring that privacy becomes a foundational principle of Web3 infrastructure.
🔹 With this roadmap, the Ethereum Foundation is signaling a decisive shift: the future of Ethereum will not only be about scalability and efficiency, but also about protecting personal data in a decentralized world.
