The Ethereum Foundation has established a "Privacy Cluster" to advance zero-knowledge and Mainnet privacy technologies.

Ethereum Foundation, EF( announced on 10/8 the establishment of a new team named “Privacy Cluster” ), gathering 47 experts from the blockchain industry to enhance privacy features for the Ethereum Mainnet. This reflects the increasing global regulatory scrutiny, indicating that the encryption industry is refocusing on “user privacy” as a core value.

Establish a “Privacy Cluster” to gather 47 experts to develop privacy features.

EF stated that the team members include researchers, engineers, and cryptographers, aiming to develop native privacy features on the Ethereum mainnet, while also developing privacy tools that can operate at the protocol layer, such as:

Privacy Payments (Private Payments)

Decentralized Privacy Identity Verification System (Private Decentralized Identity)

These development projects will closely collaborate with the “Ethereum Privacy Stewards Program” launched by EF in September (Privacy Stewards for Ethereum, PSE) to advance the research and application of privacy technologies.

Core development direction: Zero-knowledge, L2 private transactions and node privacy protection

EF indicates that the research and development of the “privacy cluster” covers multiple technologies, including:

Zero-Knowledge Infrastructure (: Allows for the verification of information authenticity without revealing specific content.

PlasmaFold L2 network's confidential transfer feature: allows transactions to be completed in a confidential state.

Prevent RPC nodes from leaking user metadata: Avoid exposing user identity or behavioral traces during the transmission process.

These technologies will gradually be integrated into the Ethereum ecosystem, allowing the mainnet to natively support higher levels of privacy protection.

) Note: PlasmaFold is an L2 privacy scaling solution still in development, inspired by the early Ethereum Plasma protocol, but combined with the latest zero-knowledge verification technology. It is an architecture that allows transactions to be processed off-chain and verified on-chain, which can simultaneously improve speed, reduce costs, and protect transaction privacy. RPC node is short for Remote Procedure Call. In Ethereum, when you use a wallet or mobile DApp, these wallets are not directly connected to the Blockchain but rather send your transactions or query data through an intermediary server called an RPC node. (

User data privacy will become a regulatory focus in 2025.

According to reports, as global governments strengthen financial regulation and data tracking, a wave of “privacy rights resurgence movement” has emerged within the encryption industry. Especially in the context of AI accelerating its penetration into daily life, AI has also become a new source of privacy threats.

The “Chat Control Bill” recently promoted by the EU )Chat Control( was originally intended to prevent the dissemination of child sexual abuse content, but it has been criticized for requiring all communication and cloud platforms to automatically scan user messages and even detect encryption content, resembling large-scale surveillance.

Signal, WhatsApp and other providers warn that this move will undermine encryption and privacy, and may lead to their exit from the EU market. A civil movement called “Stop Chat Surveillance” has been launched, calling for the protection of freedom of speech. Currently, around 15 countries support it, while 6 countries oppose it, leaving the bill in a deadlock and prompting more people to turn to Web3 communication tools to take control of their personal data sovereignty.

Vitalik calls on the community to oppose Chat Control: Don't let security become unsafe.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik also spoke out against the Chat Control bill, urging the community to “resist such policies together.” He emphasized:

“We cannot trade societal safety by making individuals feel insecure. We should all have both privacy and security, rather than establishing a backdoor that is destined to be breached.”

Overall, Vitalik's remarks once again highlight the “Cypherpunk Ethos” that the crypto community has long upheld, which is that protecting personal privacy is a core value of a free society. At the same time, the EF has transformed “privacy” from a feature that was originally an add-on at the application level into a part of the underlying protocol of Ethereum, symbolizing that Blockchain is entering a new era where “privacy becomes the built-in standard.”

) From JPMorgan to Ethereum: How On-Chain “Controllable Privacy” Changes the Blockchain and Financial Game Rules? (

This article about the Ethereum Foundation establishing a “Privacy Cluster” to promote zero-knowledge and Mainnet privacy technologies first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.