- Ethereum Foundation launched a Privacy Cluster with 47 experts, consolidating research, cryptography, and user-focused projects to advance Layer 1 privacy.
- Core initiatives include Private Reads & Writes, Private Proving, Kohaku Wallet, and the Institutional Privacy Task Force for regulatory alignment.
- The Privacy Cluster spans research, protocol, application, and institutional layers, embedding privacy into Ethereum’s infrastructure for individuals, developers, and enterprises.
The Ethereum Foundation has also issued a call to create a new Privacy Cluster, which will enable privacy upgrades at both protocol and application layers within the Ethereum network, and recruited 47 top researchers and engineers to assist with the process.
Ethereum Expands Commitment to Privacy
The Foundation has long emphasized that privacy is essential for all participants in digital life. For individuals, it safeguards dignity and choice. For developers, it creates space for safer applications and new product categories. For institutions, it ensures confidential operations while maintaining compliance. For society, it upholds democratic freedoms and trust in open systems.
Since 2018, the Foundation has supported privacy research through the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) team. PSE has built over 50 open-source projects as well as released tools such as Semaphore for anonymous signaling; MACI for private voting; zkEmail, TLSNotary and Anon Aadhaar- which have been widely utilized across Ethereum ecosystem as tools for privacy innovation.
Now, Ethereum is advancing this work with the launch of the Privacy Cluster, which will be coordinated by Igor Barinov. The privacy cluster is a way tobundle together new and existing projects, help those project develop to align them with Ethereum’s long term vision of credible neutrality, security, openness – together with privacy.
Key Projects Within the Privacy Cluster
The Privacy Cluster includes initiatives from PSE and new Foundation-backed projects. Private Reads & Writes seeks to make private payments, votes, and interactions simple and cost-efficient for both users and enterprises. Private Proving focuses on developing efficient proof systems that allow people to verify information without exposing unnecessary data. In addition, Private Identities and zkID initiatives are designed to enable selective disclosure and secure digital identity management.
User experience remains a core element of this expansion. The Privacy Experience project is working to make privacy tools more intuitive, ensuring they feel normal and accessible. Alongside this, Kohaku—a privacy-preserving wallet and open-source SDK—is being developed to bring advanced cryptography into everyday use cases.
A critical component is the Institutional Privacy Task Force (IPTF). This group connects institutions with Ethereum by translating regulatory and operational requirements into technical privacy specifications. The task force is expected to help businesses adopt blockchain while maintaining compliance across areas like payments, trading, and asset management.
Building Privacy Across the Full Stack
The Foundation’s efforts span research, protocols, applications, and institutional adoption.On the research side, PSE continues to drive forward applied cryptography, particularly in zero-knowledge proofs. These developments are integrated at the protocol level, with scalability and privacy inherently present in Ethereum’s infrastructure.
At the application layer, efforts such as Semaphore and MACI illustrate how privacy can enhance governance and payments. At the institutional level, the IPTF ensures these tools align with business and regulatory needs. Meanwhile, Kohaku Wallet demonstrates how privacy technology can be embedded in user-facing experiences.
The Ethereum Foundation has made the Privacy Cluster as a coordinated effort designed to spur on privacy adoption across the ecosystem. Driven by 47 of the worlds top experts working on research, engineering and real utilization, this initiative will aim to make privacy a part of everyday use of Ethereum Layer 1 for individuals, developers, and institution
