Buterin acknowledged the need to develop a privacy solution because, by default, all information recorded on a public blockchain is publicly accessible
Vitalik Buterin; Image: Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images via AFP
Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, has proposed a potential solution to the issue of privacy on Ethereum, which he considers to be the most significant remaining challenge for the platform.
In a blog post, Buterin acknowledged the need to develop a privacy solution because, by default, all information recorded on a public blockchain is publicly accessible.
Buterin suggested the idea of "stealth addresses" as a way to potentially anonymize various types of transactions on Ethereum, such as peer-to-peer transactions, non-fungible token transfers and Ethereum Name Service registrations, thus providing privacy to the users.
Buterin, in the blog post, explained how transactions on Ethereum can be made anonymously between two parties.
The process starts with the recipient generating and keeping a "spending key", which is then used to create a "stealth meta-address." This meta-address is then given to the sender, who uses it to perform a computation and generate a "stealth address" that is of the receiver.