Ethereum Foundation backs default wallet privacy as Kohaku work advances

The Ethereum Foundation has backed default privacy in wallets by sharing an update on Kohaku, a software development kit integrating three privacy protocols, and arguing that attackers should have less access to users’ onchain histories.

In its Oct. 26 X post, the Ethereum Foundation said that the past week’s attacks and exploits had reinforced its view that privacy and security belong together. Its message quoted Jordan Enev’s update on Kohaku, which named Railgun, Privacy Pools and Tornado Cash among the SDK’s integrations.

“We’re glad to support wallet tools advancing privacy,” the Foundation wrote.

“You can worry less about an attacker utilizing your onchain history against you when privacy is a default.”

The Foundation’s statement focused on limiting the information available to attackers. Enev’s accompanying post addressed the work needed to put privacy features inside wallets, describing Ambire’s integration efforts and a planned demonstration at Devcon.

Ethereum wallet privacy work moves toward Ambire integration

Enev said the Kohaku team was working to make privacy a normal part of Ethereum and described its SDK as becoming more mature. After naming the three protocol integrations, he called on wallet developers to take the next step.

“Now it’s time for wallets to do their part,” he wrote in the Oct. 23 post.

At Ambire, Enev said, the team had spent the previous few months exploring Kohaku, testing integrations with different privacy protocols and working with its developers to provide feedback. He described the team as closer than ever to its first integration.

His account of that work covered testing and development, with no public release date attached. The post pointed readers toward a Devcon presentation featuring Nicolas Consigny and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Kohaku’s public SDK repository lists separate libraries for Railgun, Tornado Cash and Privacy Pools. Its package table describes a standardized interface for shielded-pool protocols, a provider component supporting several Ethereum software tools, and a post-quantum account implementation.

The repository warns that some components remain works in progress and that its packages contain unaudited code. Its Railgun package is listed as under maintenance.

A separate repository describes the Kohaku browser wallet as a reference implementation built from Ambire’s wallet code. The README identifies Sepolia testnet as its supported network and offers a prebuilt demonstration dated March 2026.

Kohaku’s Devcon session plans a mainnet demonstration

The Devcon schedule lists “Kohaku: privacy for everyone, by default” for Nov. 3 on Lotus Stage 2, with Consigny and Buterin as speakers. The description calls for a demonstration on Ethereum mainnet using Ambire Wallet.

Organizers expect to show privacy protocol integrations, light clients, post-quantum accounts, and hardware wallet clear signing. The session description presents those features as expected demonstration material.

The listing says the speakers will explain how light clients reduce the amount of trust a wallet places in outside infrastructure. It describes embedding privacy protocols inside a wallet so users can access their protections without having to understand the underlying systems.

Fetching token prices and logos through decentralized methods is another planned feature. The session description says this would avoid revealing the tokens a user interacts with to third parties.

Consigny’s speaker biography identifies him as the Foundation researcher leading Kohaku, with work spanning wallets, privacy protocols, and post-quantum cryptography.

Ethereum researchers have proposed changes to privacy transactions

The Foundation introduced Kohaku in its October 2025 privacy commitment as a reference wallet and open-source SDK. The same announcement described a privacy cluster of 47 researchers, engineers, coordinators and cryptographers, coordinated by Igor Barinov.

Its Institutional Privacy Task Force was tasked with translating businesses’ regulatory and operational requirements into technical privacy specifications. The announcement listed payments, trading, funds, assets and compliance among its areas of work.

Separate work on transaction fees has reached Ethereum’s upgrade discussions. As crypto.news previously reported, researcher Toni Wahrstätter described proposals in August that could let privacy pools pay network fees without a separate relayer.

Wahrstätter’s proposal combined Frame Transactions with other transaction changes and Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, known as FOCIL. The August report identified FOCIL as confirmed for Hegotá, while Frame Transactions remained under consideration.

Account security has featured in Kohaku research as well. In June, Consigny described post-quantum account protection that could be added without waiting for a hard fork, citing an estimated cost of $0.07 per account at the time.

An October report on the Foundation’s zkAPI project described another privacy application, developed with Open Anonymity Project. The system separates proof of payment for AI services from the funding identity, while the model provider still receives the user’s prompt.

US Treasury removed Tornado Cash sanctions in March 2025

The US Treasury announced the removal of economic sanctions against Tornado Cash on March 21, 2025, following its review of the legal and policy issues involved in applying sanctions to activity using emerging technologies.

In that announcement, Treasury maintained its concerns about North Korea’s state-sponsored hacking and money laundering. The department said it would continue monitoring transactions that could benefit malicious cyber actors or North Korea and cautioned US persons about transactions presenting those risks.