Ethereum’s developer community has launched Kohaku, an ambitious project designed to redefine digital wallet security and user privacy through a modular, open-source framework. Announced by Ethereum Foundation coordinator Nicolas Consigny on Thursday, the initiative aims to give users and developers unprecedented control over their data while fostering a privacy-first wallet ecosystem.
At its core, Kohaku introduces a software development kit (SDK) that provides customizable security and privacy tools for Ethereum wallets. Alongside it, developers plan to release a reference wallet demonstrating how these privacy features work in real-world use cases. The first iteration will debut as a browser extension built on the Ambire wallet, tailored for power users who value transparency and autonomy.
The open-source project brings together notable Ethereum ecosystem collaborators — including Ambire, Railgun, DeFi Wonderland, Helios, and Oblivious Labs — to co-develop privacy technologies accessible to the broader community via GitHub.
Cutting wallets’ dependence on centralized services
One of Kohaku’s main goals is to eliminate the reliance of crypto wallets on centralized intermediaries, which often track user activity. To achieve this, the project integrates several privacy-preserving features:
- Private transaction routing to conceal sender and receiver identities.
- IP masking to prevent traceability through network data.
- Isolated accounts for each DApp, limiting cross-application data exposure.
- Peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction broadcasting, bypassing traditional RPC servers entirely.
Kohaku will also introduce zero-knowledge (ZK) recovery mechanisms such as ZK Email and Anon Aadhaar, enabling users to restore wallets securely without compromising privacy. ZK Email leverages cryptographic proofs for anonymous email verification, while Anon Aadhaar allows privacy-preserving identity verification tied to real-world credentials.
In the long term, Kohaku’s vision extends beyond software developers plan to push wallet security “as close as possible to the silicon.” This means embedding privacy mechanisms directly into native Ethereum browsers, empowering users to interact with DApps, IPFS, and decentralized networks without leaking sensitive information.
Ethereum Foundation launches “Privacy Cluster” initiative
Kohaku is part of a broader push by the Ethereum Foundation, which this week announced the formation of a Privacy Cluster a collaborative network of 47 leading researchers, engineers, and cryptographers focused on advancing privacy across the Ethereum ecosystem.
Working alongside the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) team, the Privacy Cluster aims to develop protocol-level privacy enhancements, including:
- Private payments and confidential identities,
- Zero-knowledge proving frameworks, and
- Privacy-preserving reads and writes on Ethereum’s layer-1 blockchain.
Other notable projects under the Privacy Cluster umbrella include Private Reads & Writes, Private Proving, and Private Identities, each contributing to Ethereum’s long-term vision of a secure, censorship-resistant, and privacy-protected blockchain network.