The Ethereum Foundation published a roadmap for implementing on-chain privacy features, a layer-1 (L1) smart contract blockchain, throughout the Ethereum network. It restructured “Privacy & Scaling Explorations” as the “Privacy Stewards of Ethereum” (PSE).
In Friday’s announcement, PSE said it hopes to add privacy solutions across the protocol, infrastructure, networking, application, and wallet layers and outlined several goals for the next 3-6 months.
These included private transfers with the development of the PlasmaFold layer-2 network, confidential voting, and privacy for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
The roadmap further suggested developing safeguards to protect personal data from exposure through remote procedure call (RPC) services and private identity solutions using zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs—verifying information without disclosing its specific contents. PSE defined its mission:
“Ethereum deserves to become core infrastructure for global digital commerce, identity, collaboration, and the internet of value. But this potential is impossible without private data, transactions, and identity. We take responsibility within the Ethereum Foundation for ensuring privacy goals at the application layer are reached.”
The announcement noted they would work with protocol teams to ensure that any L1 changes were needed to support strong, censorship-resistant, intermediary-free privacy.
PSE pushes private transfers, confidential voting, and DeFi safeguards
Privacy has always been at the core of the cypherpunk ethos that spawned cryptocurrencies. As crypto gains widespread adoption and the attention of governments, the crypto community is increasingly concerned about evolving digital financial surveillance methods.
U.S. officials are weighing new regulations for the crypto industry and markets, including potential surveillance measures to monitor participant activity. The Department of the Treasury, led by Secretary Scott Bessent, is considering proposals to require government identity checks in smart contracts, an idea that has sparked pushback from the crypto community.Â
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has long argued that privacy is a fundamental human right. In April, he cautioned that transparency functions more as a flaw than a feature in the digital age, stressing that privacy is essential to safeguard individuals amid the rise of state power and centralized corporations.
Interoperability and intent-based architecture set as near-term priorities
Recently, Ethereum Foundation researchers noted that interoperability is the top near-term priority for Ethereum development.
In a blog post, the researchers wrote, “We see interoperability, and related projects presented in this note, as the highest leverage opportunity” within the user experience domain in the next six to 12 months. The near-term strategy focuses on intent-based architecture and general message-passing.
Essentially, the focus is on approving users to express outcomes (or “intents”). At the same time, the network takes care of the low-level transactions and upgrades the crosschain “pipes” (message-passing infrastructure) so that those intents execute without delay across layer-1 and rollups. The Ethereum Foundation notes it will focus on optimizing for specific metrics, including time-to-inclusion, confirmation/finality, layer-2 settlement, and signatures per operation.
The researchers indicated that interoperability is key since the Ethereum ecosystem is segmented into many layer-2 protocols that advance its functionality and scalability, while bringing “their own challenges, chief among them the pressures of fragmentation.” The post cites a significant pain point:
“At its simplified core, the key ingredients to accelerate interop boil down to unlocking fast crosschain message-passing and standardisation. Currently, message-passing is partially bottlenecked by slow settlement times.
Buterin praised Base as a model Ethereum L2
On related development, Buterin has given a nod of approval to Coinbase’s Layer 2 network, Base, describing it as one of the most “Ethereum-aligned” rollups available today.
In a X post, he commented, “Base is doing things the right way: an L2 on top of Ethereum, that uses its centralized features to provide stronger UX features, while still being tied into Ethereum’s decentralized base layer for security.”
In his statement, Buterin stated that some had mistakenly taken Coinbase’s L2beat as a prescriptive authority. However, he clarified that it was designed to measure objective security properties that influence how trustless a Layer-2 is and how well it keeps user funds secure. He noted that the Layer-2 network is non-custodial and cannot freeze or seize user funds. He added that most legitimate Layer-2 solutions are usually non-custodial and a direct continuation of Ethereum.
He further explained, “There are concrete pathways implemented in smart contract logic on Ethereum L1 that have been successfully used in the wild, that ensure that L1 ultimately controls the L2 users’ funds; they cannot be stolen or blocked by the L2 operator.”
Analysts believe Buterin’s remarks may accelerate momentum, drawing in more builders and capital. So far, Ethereum has put Layer-2 growth at the center of its plans, with Base as a strong proof point for the model’s success. With high gas fees often pricing people out, rollups help handle huge transaction volumes cheaply while relying on Ethereum for security.
Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, recently gave his opinion on the debate between exchanges and L2 networks. He affirmed that it’s wrong to think of Layer-2 sequencers like Base as “exchanges.” He further noted that while the SEC defines an exchange as a platform connecting buyers and sellers of securities, Layer-2s are just infrastructure — general-purpose blockchains that help Ethereum scale and run code.
Grewal also likened L2s to Amazon Web Services, which runs code for developers, including exchange software, but is not classified as an exchange.
Base co-founder Jesse Pollak also explained how sequencers work, noting that users are never locked in — they can choose to route transactions through Base’s sequencer or interact directly with Ethereum. This flexibility, he said, preserves decentralization and protects against censorship. He also compared the process to traffic control, comparing the sequencer to a system that keeps a priority lane clear so transactions can flow smoothly and reach their destination faster.
