Ethereum founder Vitaly Buterin suggested allowing users to mix transactions to hide addresses when sending fixed amounts. According to him, the introduction of such an architecture will not require changes at the level of the main protocol. He wrote about this on Hackmd .

So, explained Buterin, at the moment there are only two options for transactions available to users: from one address (all activity can be easily tracked using the block browser) and each time from a new one (inconvenient and ineffective way to hide activity).

The creator of Ethereum believes that it is necessary to create two smart contracts – a “mixer and a repeater register”, with the help of which users can optionally conduct private transactions through anonymous retransmission. The latter assumes that the recipient of funds does not know from whom exactly they came, but he knows that from one of n numbers of addresses.

If you’re thinking about it, you’ll be thinking about it. So even though it’s a gas cost, it’s not worth it.

– Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) May 22, 2019

Buterin added that a relatively high commission is justified if you need to hide the address that contains all your tokens.

Also, the creator of Ethereum has published white paper of the zkSNARKs protocol based on elliptic curves, which does not imply a trusted installation.

Elliptic curve-based succinct ZKPs now with * no * trusted setup assumption: https://t.co/zEWAk44mQE

– Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) on May 23, 2019

Recall that in February, researchers at Stanford University and Visa Research presented a privacy mechanism for smart contracts at Ethereum.

The solution is called Zether and is a new smart contract that can be executed individually or through other smart contracts. Zether saves the data on the account balances in encrypted form and makes it possible to deposit, transfer or withdraw funds through cryptographic evidence, while the transaction fees amount to 0.014 ETH.

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