Ethereum Foundation Forms Privacy Cluster Team to Strengthen On-Chain Privacy

• New team brings together 47 privacy and blockchain experts
• The goal is to make privacy a core property of Ethereum
• Initiative expands research into cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs

The Ethereum Foundation announced the creation of the Privacy Cluster, a new team of 47 researchers, engineers, and digital security experts led by Igor Barinov, founder of Blockscout and xDai. The group's mission is to strengthen the privacy of on-chain transactions and cement confidentiality as a core feature of the Ethereum ecosystem.

According to the foundation , the project aims to make privacy a "first-class property" of the network, complementing initiatives already developed by the community. To this end, a development roadmap was released that outlines progress and priorities for improving end-to-end privacy on the world's second-largest blockchain.

In an official publication, the foundation highlighted that

"Ethereum was created to be the foundation of digital trust, a trust worthy of civilizational scale. For this trust to remain reliable, privacy must be at its core."

This statement reinforces the entity's commitment to addressing challenges related to the exposure of data and metadata in public transactions.

The Privacy Cluster will work on direct improvements to Layer 1 of the network, developing solutions such as confidential transfers and mechanisms to mitigate information leaks in RPC nodes. Additionally, the team will work to improve the use of advanced cryptography, including zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs), a technology essential for preserving privacy without compromising the security and verifiability of transactions.

The new structure will also expand the current Privacy Exploration and Scaling Team, which has been conducting research and developing tools focused on data protection and network scalability since 2018. Priority areas include the development of private payments, digital identities, and metadata-protected wallets, pillars considered fundamental to ensuring a more secure and autonomous user experience.

With the Privacy Cluster, the Ethereum Foundation seeks to consolidate a decentralized infrastructure that combines transparency and privacy, reinforcing the trust of users and developers in a blockchain environment increasingly focused on data protection.