Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has called for urgent prioritization of privacy in digital systems, arguing that growing dependence on transparency is endangering personal freedom. In an April 14 blog post, Buterin warned that developers must no longer assume governments and corporations will use data responsibly. He believes those assumptions—such as the idea that global leadership is well-intentioned or that social progress is inevitable—are no longer valid in today’s world.

Buterin emphasized how easy it is for personal actions to become public, even without consent. He said privacy isn’t just a concern for rule-breakers—it’s a safeguard for everyone, especially as technology like brain-computer interfaces and dynamic price algorithms begin to target individuals more intimately.

He criticized the idea of building government backdoors into privacy tools, warning that data is not only accessible by authorities but also by banks, telecoms, and hackers. Once data is collected, it can be leaked, abused, or inherited by less ethical successors. The best strategy, he argues, is to avoid collecting sensitive data at all.

Buterin believes the right solution lies in cryptographic systems like zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs), which confirm information without revealing it. He also supports innovations like privacy pools for anonymous Ethereum transactions and anti-fraud tools that operate directly on personal devices.

He concludes that governments now have access to far more personal data than ever before, making the stakes higher. Buterin’s post follows his broader Ethereum privacy roadmap, which aims to reshape the protocol and its ecosystem to offer users more control and protection over their data.