Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is doubling down on his long-standing push for digital privacy, arguing that it should be treated as a baseline expectation, not an optional upgrade.
His remarks come after a cyberattack on mortgage technology vendor SitusAMC, which exposed sensitive client information linked to major U.S. banks including JPMorgan, Citi, and Morgan Stanley. The incident has reignited debate about centralized data risk and the urgency of stronger privacy practices across the internet.
Buterin: Privacy Should Be Default, Not a Luxury
Responding to the breach, Buterin dismissed the idea of privacy as a “feature,” comparing it instead to basic hygiene practices such as hand-washing. Privacy, he said, must operate as an automatic safeguard for every user, not something individuals must enable or seek out. His framing reflects a broader concern that centralized systems routinely store large pools of sensitive data, creating single points of failure that attackers can exploit.
Decentralization as Antidote to Centralized Weak Points
The SitusAMC breach, which leaked mortgage-related data from some of the country’s largest banks, underscores what Buterin considers the fundamental weakness of centralized platforms: one compromised point can expose millions. According to him, blockchain networks built with proper cryptographic protections can help mitigate this structural risk by distributing data and minimizing the value of any single attack vector.
Ethereum’s Roadmap: Toward Built-In, Universal Privacy
Buterin’s comments align closely with Ethereum’s ongoing technical direction. Earlier this year, he published a privacy roadmap emphasizing stealth addresses, zero-knowledge systems, and protocols designed to obscure user interactions without reducing verifiability. More recently, he introduced Kohaku, a privacy and security toolkit aimed at helping developers integrate advanced cryptography directly into Ethereum-based applications.
Upcoming improvements seek to embed privacy into the Ethereum experience by default, removing the need for third-party tools or specialized opt-in features. The goal is straightforward: ensure everyday users can interact securely without requiring technical expertise or trusting external intermediaries.
What This Means for Users and the Broader Ecosystem
The renewed focus on privacy after a major real-world data breach highlights why Buterin continues advocating for systemic change. As traditional institutions grapple with repeated centralized failures, Ethereum’s protocol-level privacy ambitions are being positioned not just as a competitive advantage, but as a necessary evolution for the next phase of the internet.