Vitalik noted that there has been no viable stealth address solution thus far, even though it offers a more functional and comprehensive privacy solution compared to the now-sanctioned Tornado Cash crypto mixer.
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder and the most popular figure behind the Ethereal the blockchain network has ideas shared on the use of stealth addresses as a viable way to maintain true privacy in blockchain networks.
In a blog post tagged “An Incomplete Guide to Stealthy Addresses,” the blockchain developer highlighted how maintaining privacy has been more vital right now. According to him, each transaction made on the blockchain records different data that puts the sender’s affairs in the public eye.
While he noted that there have been a number of proposed solutions, he believes that stealth addresses may be viable for the Ethereum blockchain in the long term if development work is dedicated to it.
In describing how stealth addresses work, he used two hypothetical names, Alice and Bob. She said that this technology can help Alice send money to Bob and Bob, while she can use the addresses to protect her identity as the recipient of the funds, which could be an asset or a non-expendable token (NFT).
While he pointed out that Stealth addresses are often generated by Alice or Bob, but they are often controlled by the receiver. According to his note;
“Bob generates and secretly maintains a spending key, and uses this key to generate a stealthy meta-address. It passes this meta address to Alice (or registers it in ENS). Alice can perform a calculation on this meta address to generate a stealth address belonging to Bob. She can then send whatever assets she wants to be sent to this address and Bob will have full control over them. Along with the transfer, she posts some additional cryptographic data (an ephemeral public key) on the chain that helps Bob figure out that this address belongs to him.”
Vitalik noted that there has been no viable stealth address solution thus far, even though it offers a more functional and comprehensive privacy solution compared to the now-sanctioned Tornado Cash crypto mixer.
Vitalik Buterin on the future of privacy
In his opinion, developers will release more functional products that can be used when they optimally focus on developing stealth directions that can be easily implemented.
“Basic stealth addresses can be implemented quite quickly today, and could be a significant boost to practical user privacy on Ethereum,” he said, adding that “They require some work on the wallet side to support them. That being said, it is my opinion that wallets should start moving towards a more native multi-address model. […] also for other privacy-related reasons.”
He noted that there are some challenges that may be experienced, including long-term usability issues. Rather than be discouraged, Vitalik said that he is optimistic that these can be addressed over time.
“In the long term, these problems can be solved, but the ecosystem of stealth addresses in the long term looks like one that would really rely heavily on zero-knowledge proofs.”
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Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalist who enjoys writing about the real-life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive mainstream acceptance and global integration of emerging technology. His desire to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain-based sites and media. Benjamin Godfrey is a lover of sports and agriculture.
