Ethereum (ETH) developers are exploring new token standards as privacy returns to focus
Privacy is reemerging as a major crypto theme after years of being overshadowed by scaling and regulatory concerns. A new Ethereum proposal, pERC-20, would let users hold and transfer tokens without exposing balances, amounts, or counterparties onchain. Instead of public account-like records, tokens would use encrypted “notes,” while still preserving total supply visibility and adding a compliance feature that can freeze specific notes without revealing ordinary users’ activity. The debate is broadening beyond private payments. Starknet’s STRK20 framework aims to extend privacy into DeFi actions like swapping, borrowing, and staking, while supporting multiple assets under one privacy layer. Developers argue that usability is now the main barrier: privacy tools must be easy enough to attract many users, because weak adoption reduces anonymity. The current split is between privacy for payments only and privacy as a full ecosystem layer.
