Ethereum developers unveiled Kohaku, a roadmap that aims to improve wallet privacy and security through a modular framework designed for developers and advanced users.
The project, announced in a Thursday blog post by Ethereum Foundation coordinator Nicolas Consigny, outlines plans to build a set of privacy and security primitives for the Ethereum ecosystem.
At its core, Kohaku aims to create a software development kit (SDK) for building secure wallet functions, and a reference wallet that demonstrates how these tools work in practice. The first version will come as a browser extension based on the Ambire wallet, designed for advanced users who want more control and privacy.
Kohaku is being developed in collaboration with well-known Ethereum ecosystem teams, including Ambire, Railgun, DeFi Wonderland, Helios and Oblivious Labs. The project is open source, and developers are encouraged to contribute through its GitHub repositories.
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Kohaku aims to cut wallets’ dependence on centralized services
Kohaku’s primary goal is to reduce the reliance of wallets on centralized services that can track transactions. The project will include features like private sending and receiving, hiding IP addresses, separate accounts for each DApp and P2P transaction broadcasting that bypasses normal remote procedure call (RPC) servers.
It also plans to add social recovery options using tools such as ZK Email or Anon Aadhaar, making it easier to restore access without giving up privacy. ZK Email uses zero-knowledge proofs to enable anonymous verification of emails, while Anon Aadhaar allows users to prove their identity in a privacy-preserving way.
In the long run, the team aims to bring wallet security even closer to the device level, which they refer to as “as close as possible to the silicon.” This means creating a native Ethereum browser where users can safely interact with DApps, IPFS content and decentralized networks without data leaks.
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Ethereum Foundation forms “Privacy Cluster”
On Wednesday, the Ethereum Foundation launched a new initiative called the Privacy Cluster, bringing together 47 leading researchers, engineers and cryptographers to develop privacy features at the protocol level of the Ethereum network.
The group will work alongside the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) team to introduce tools such as private payments, confidential identity systems, and zero-knowledge infrastructure designed to protect user data directly on Ethereum’s layer-1 blockchain.
The Privacy Cluster includes multiple Ethereum Foundation and PSE initiatives, with Kohaku being one. Other notable projects are Private Reads & Writes, Private Proving, Private Identities and more.
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