Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, has collaborated with other blockchain researchers to publish a research paper focused on privacy-enhancing protocol, Privacy Pools.

The paper is dated September 6 and also lists researchers from Chainalysis, and University of Basel, on its list of contributors. 

Titled, “Blockchain Privacy and Regulatory Compliance: Towards a Practical Equilibrium”, the piece discusses the pros and cons of Privacy Pools, and is set against a backdrop of controversy around privacy-preserving projects such as Tornado cash, developers for which were recently arrested in the US.

According to the paper’s abstract, the “core idea” is to allow users to demonstrate the legitimate nature of their cryptocurrency funds, without revealing their entire transaction history. This, in turn, would be achieved using zero-knowledge proofs.

The transparent nature of blockchain data, though an advantage in many respects, means that users risk disclosure of vast swathes of personal financial information and this may need, to some extent, remedying if blockchain is to reach mainstream usage in the future. 

Vitalik Buterin is perhaps the most prominent individual in the cryptocurrency space and his comments on past topics, such as soulbound tokens (SBTs), have created mass excitement in the industry around potentially revolutionary subject areas.