Vitalik Buterin warned that advances in artificial intelligence could make traditional blockchain privacy protections less effective as tools become better at linking transactions to real people.
Speaking Wednesday at the 12th Global Blockchain Summit, the Ethereum co-founder said separating a user’s real name from a crypto wallet may no longer provide enough privacy. Public blockchains expose transaction histories that can be analyzed to identify patterns between addresses.
Buterin compared public blockchains to “Twitter for your bank account,” highlighting how much financial activity can remain visible even when users do not reveal their identities.
AI Raises New Privacy Risks
Buterin said increasingly powerful data analysis and AI tools are changing the privacy landscape. “We have extremely powerful data analysis, extremely powerful AI,” he said, adding that the older approach to blockchain privacy is “obviously not sufficient anymore.”
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As more information becomes available for analysis, wallet activity could become easier to trace back to individuals.
Programmable Cryptography Offers New Approach
Buterin pointed to programmable cryptography as one possible way to give users greater control over sensitive information. Such systems could allow users to set rules governing who can access transaction-related data.
The approach would shift blockchain privacy beyond simply hiding identities and toward controlling who can view and analyze financial activity.
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