The Ethereum privacy framework Kohaku has debuted, Vitalik: Privacy enhancement is entering the final sprint.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin publicly showcased the “Kohaku” privacy tool framework for the first time at Devcon on 11/17. This framework, jointly developed by the Ethereum Foundation (EF) and multiple teams, aims to promote Ethereum's privacy upgrades, providing users with better privacy protection. Vitalik also admitted that Ethereum is still lagging behind in privacy technology and is now entering the final stage of a full-scale reinforcement.

Kohaku makes its debut, Vitalik demonstrates Ethereum's move towards privacy upgrades

Vitalik showcased a privacy tool framework called “Kohaku” on stage at Devcon, developed jointly by EF and several developers. He mentioned that although Ethereum has invested heavily in privacy research over the years, it is only one step away from truly allowing users to naturally enjoy privacy protection, and now is the time to put in full effort to strengthen this.

Kohaku aims to provide an open-source, modular privacy and security framework that allows developers to build wallets with privacy features directly, without relying on centralized services. In the future, the framework may also incorporate mixnets, ZK browsers, and more default privacy modes for wallets.

Railgun and Privacy Pools are here, the technical foundation of Kohaku revealed.

From Kohaku's Github, it can be seen that the project is still under active development, but it already includes several important privacy modules, such as:

Ethereum Privacy Protocol Railgun: Mask public funds so that outsiders cannot see the flow of funds, achieved through zero-knowledge proofs, and can be directly integrated into wallets, allowing users to reduce the risk of being tracked with a single click.

New privacy tool Privacy Pools: The core approach uses Association Lists (, allowing good people to provide Proof Of Innocence ), while bad actors cannot mix illegal funds into it.

These tools form the core foundation of Kohaku, allowing users to maintain privacy while preventing misuse.

Demonstrating wallet masking funds, Kohaku promotes wallet default privacy.

In the demonstration, a user successfully masked the publicly visible funds in their account through the integration of Kohaku and Railgun, making it impossible for others to trace the transactions. Kohaku's goal is to enable all Ethereum wallets, such as MetaMask and Rainbow, to support a “default, optional” privacy mode.

Vitalik emphasized the importance of privacy, stating that privacy allows people to live in their own way without constantly worrying about their actions being monitored by centralized or decentralized forces.

EF has established a privacy team to comprehensively enhance privacy features.

In recent months, the Ethereum community has been advancing multiple privacy projects. Last month, the Ethereum Foundation established the “Privacy Cluster,” bringing together 47 researchers and engineers dedicated to making privacy a fundamental feature of Ethereum.

In addition, the original Privacy & Scaling Explorations (PSE) team was renamed “Privacy Stewards of Ethereum” in September, transitioning from exploring new technologies to addressing “real privacy issues,” focusing on features such as private voting and confidential DeFi. Vitalik also stated at the Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress that Ethereum has embarked on a privacy upgrade path.

Kohaku focuses on open-source modularity, creating a future of Ethereum's default privacy.

Kohaku is still in development, but the core direction can be seen from the currently available modules and demonstrations:

Fully open source.

Modular design.

The wallet can activate the mask at any time, balancing the prevention of abuse by bad actors and the protection of regular users.

The ultimate goal is to make privacy the natural state when using Ethereum.

This article discusses the new Ethereum privacy framework Kohaku, with Vitalik stating that privacy enhancement is entering the final sprint. It first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.