Ethereum Announces 9-Step Roadmap for Future ERC Development

Context Buterin shares Ethereum's next roadmap

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has shared a detailed roadmap to improve privacy for users on the Ethereum platform. Privacy is an important issue in blockchain because of its transparent nature, every transaction is recorded publicly on the blockchain, making user information traceable.

So recently, Vitalik's post on X said that this update will focus on four main aspects of privacy: "Privacy of on-chain payments, partial anonymity of in-app activity, privacy of RPC calls, network-level anonymity", and he gave 9 more specific steps to improve them.

Why is privacy on Ethereum important?

Ethereum is a public blockchain, meaning all transactions are recorded and can be viewed by anyone. For example, if you send 1 ETH to a friend, your wallet address, the recipient's wallet address, and the transaction amount are all publicly visible on the blockchain. This can be risky: A stranger could track your transactions, or a competitor could see where you're investing.

Privacy on Ethereum helps protect users from these risks while maintaining the transparency and security of the blockchain.

Ethereum Identifies Four Key Aspects of Privacy That Need Improvement

Onchain payments privacy: This is about protecting transaction information (who sent, who received, how much) when you make a transaction on Ethereum.

Anonymity of in-app activity: When you use decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum, like gaming or financial transactions, your identity needs to be protected.

Privacy of Remote Procedure Calls (RPC): RPC is how your wallet (like Metamask) communicates with the blockchain. If this information is not protected, your data can be exposed.

Network-level anonymization: This involves protecting information at the network layer, like your IP address, so that no one knows where you are connecting to Ethereum from.

9-Step Roadmap to Improved Privacy

Integrate privacy tools ( Railgun, Privacy Pools) into the wallet

Tools like Railgun or Privacy Pools help anonymize transactions but are currently difficult to use. Direct integration into wallets like Metamask with a “send from shielded balance” button would make it easier for users to use without complicated operations.

• For example, you use Metamask to send 1 ETH to your friend. Currently, this transaction is public. If Metamask integrates Railgun, you can choose "send from a shielded balance", and the transaction will be encrypted, no one will know who you are sending to or how much.

By default, one address is used per application.

Users often use the same wallet address for all their activities, making their actions traceable and analyzeable. Automatically generating unique addresses for each application reduces the ability to link actions on the chain.

• For example: You use address A to play an NFT game and also use address A to trade on Uniswap. If someone tracks address A, they will know both your gaming and trading activity. With the “one address per app” model, you will have address B for the game and address C for Uniswap, making it harder to link activities.

Upgrade FOCIL & EIP-7701 to increase censorship resistance ( (send-to-self )

FOCIL speeds up private transaction processing and resists blocking by nodes or miners. Combined with EIP-7701, transactions become faster and harder to control.

• For example: You have 5 ETH in your wallet and want to send 1 ETH to a friend without revealing your identity. With EIP-7701 , you can send 5 ETH to yourself first, this transaction will be encrypted, then send 1 ETH from that encrypted balance to your friend. Outsiders will only see an encrypted transaction, not knowing who you sent it to.

FOCIL functional diagram. (Source: Ethereum Research).

Using TEE to protect RPC data

TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) helps to process wallet information in a secure area, avoiding data exposure when the wallet communicates with RPC nodes. This is a temporary but effective solution to enhance user data protection.

• For example, you send 1 ETH via Tornado Cash to remain anonymous. Currently, this transaction can be slow due to technical issues in how Ethereum processes it. With FOCIL and EIP-7701 , your transaction will be faster and more secure, and no one (including node operators) can stop your transaction.

Connect wallet to multiple RPC nodes and apply mixnet or light client

Currently, wallets typically connect to only a single RPC node, which poses a risk if that node is monitored. Splitting queries across multiple nodes and using techniques like mixnets or light clients can improve network privacy.

• For example: When you check your wallet balance via Metamask, your data goes through an RPC node. If this node is not secure, anyone can see your balance. With TEE, your data is stored in a “safe box” that even the RPC node cannot access, ensuring only you can see your balance.

Replace TEE with PIR (Private Information Retrieval) technique

PIR allows you to query data from the network without revealing what you are asking. This is a more permanent solution than TEEs because it does not require trusting a third party, but still needs improvement to handle big data more efficiently.

• Imagine you want to look up your wallet balance without letting the RPC node know what you are looking up. With PIR, you can send a cryptographic request to the node, and the node will return your balance without knowing what you asked for. This is like asking a librarian “give me book number 5” without telling what book it is, and the librarian has no idea what your request is about.

Connect wallet to multiple RPC nodes and apply mixnet or light client

Currently, wallets typically connect to only a single RPC node, which poses a risk if that node is monitored. Splitting queries across multiple nodes and using techniques like mixnets or light clients can improve network privacy.

• Instead of sending a balance check request to just one RPC node, your wallet sends the request to 5 different nodes, each of which only sees a small portion of the data. It's like breaking a letter into 5 pieces and sending it through 5 different couriers – no one knows the full contents.

Summary of proof to reduce gas fees

Privacy protocols are often expensive in terms of gas because they require separate proofs for each transaction. By aggregating, multiple users can share a common proof, saving costs and increasing popularity.

• Let's say you and 9 other people all send 1 ETH via Railgun. Instead of each paying for gas on a separate proof, all 10 people can share a single proof, like 10 people paying for a taxi instead of each taking their own.

Build a wallet that uses a keystore to automatically update privacy

Keystores help store keys and data securely. Building a wallet based on a keystore allows for automatic updates of private notes on both Layer 1 and Layer 2, eliminating the need for manual operations while maintaining privacy.

Expected results

Buterin envisions that if this roadmap is implemented, Ethereum will achieve an ecosystem where:

Most transactions are privacy protected: Sending money will be private by default, just like sending encrypted emails without thinking about it.

In-app activities are protected: For example, when you play games or trade on dApps, no one knows your identity, but activities between apps can still be linked without additional measures.

Privacy is guaranteed against powerful adversaries: Not only chain observers but also RPC node operators cannot track you.

Evaluation and Conclusion

Buterin's roadmap is a comprehensive plan, combining technical improvements (like EIP-7701, PIR,...) and user experience improvements (like wallet integration).

Below is our HCC Ventures preliminary assessment.

Strengths of the next updates

• Feasibility: Steps like wallet integration (step 1) and TEE adoption (step 5) can be implemented in the short term, providing immediate improvements.

• Scalability: Long-term solutions like PIR (step 6) and proof aggregation (step 8) ensure scalable privacy for millions of users.

• User-centric: Making privacy the default makes it easy for new users to adopt without technical knowledge.

Challenges for the Ethereum network

• Community coordination: Ethereum is a large ecosystem with many stakeholders (users, developers, node operators). Syncing changes like EIP-7701 or integrating into wallets requires close coordination.

• Third-party risk: Solutions like TEE (step 5) and RPC (step 7) require users to trust service providers. If these providers are not trustworthy, user data can be exposed.

• Cost and performance: Technologies like PIR (step 6) are not yet efficient for big data, and reducing gas costs (step 8) takes time to develop.

• User Education: For privacy to become popular, users need to understand its benefits. For example, many people may not know why they should choose to “send from protected balance” instead of sending normally.

Join the HCCVenture community to get the latest market information. Once again, we give our opinion on potential projects in the crypto market. This is not investment advice, consider your portfolio. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the platform in any way. This article is not intended to guide investment decisions.

Compiled and analyzed by HCCVenture

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