Crypto Journalist

Anas Hassan

Crypto Journalist

Anas Hassan

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Anas is a crypto native journalist and SEO writer with over five years of writing experience covering blockchain, crypto, DeFi, and emerging tech.

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September 14, 2025

The Ethereum Foundation’s Privacy & Scaling Explorations team rebranded as Privacy Stewards for Ethereum (PSE), unveiling an ambitious roadmap to make privacy the default rather than exception across Ethereum’s technical stack.

The transformation shifts focus from cryptography exploration to problem-first solutions addressing Ethereum’s surveillance vulnerabilities.

PSE’s new mission centers on three core tracks: private writes to make on-chain actions as cheap and seamless as public ones, private reads enabling surveillance-free blockchain queries, and private proving for accessible data verification.

The initiative follows Vitalik Buterin’s April advocacy for privacy as essential to Ethereum’s survival as a global settlement infrastructure.

The roadmap warns that without robust privacy protections, Ethereum risks becoming “the backbone of global surveillance rather than global freedom.”

PSE emphasizes that institutions and users will migrate elsewhere if private transactions, identity, and data remain compromised by public blockchain transparency.

From Cryptography Lab to Privacy Stewardship Mission

PSE abandoned its previous approach of pursuing “cool tech” for concrete problem-solving focused on ecosystem outcomes rather than internal projects.

The rebrand includes website updates to pse.dev and restructured team goals with particular emphasis on subtraction by default and problem-driven resource allocation.

The strategy involves continuous problem mapping, execution decisions across lead-support-monitor engagement levels, and public communication through newsletters, community calls, and working groups.

PSE draws inspiration from Protocol and EcoDev announcement simplicity while addressing feedback from Vitalik Buterin, Silviculture Society, and EF management.

Key initiatives include PlasmaFold development for private transfers using PCD and folding, targeting proof-of-concept by Devconnect.

The team continues to develop the Kohaku privacy wallet, focusing on zk account recovery frameworks and keystore implementation for stealth addresses.

Private governance efforts focus on a “State of private voting 2025” report while collaborating with Aragon on protocol integrations.

The Institutional Privacy Task Force launches with the EF EcoDev Enterprise team to unblock adoption through privacy specifications and proof-of-concepts.

Another key aspect of this new direct is PSE’s data portability. It tracks advances in TLSNotary development for production-ready zkTLS protocols, while building SDKs that enable seamless integration across mobile, server, and browser platforms.

Additionally, network privacy initiatives include Private RPC working groups, ORAM solution integration for privacy-preserving state reads, and sphinx mixing protocol implementation for broadcast privacy.

The team has stated that it will methodically study ORAM and PIR state-of-the-art techniques while translating research into practical wallet and browser experiences.

Industry Experts Warn Public Ledgers Threaten Mass Adoption

The privacy push addresses growing concerns from industry veterans about Ethereum’s transparency model.

In an interview with Cryptonews in August, British Gold Trust’s Petro Golovko argues public blockchains expose salaries, business deals, and balance sheets, making crypto “unusable for regular people and impossible for institutions.“

Golovko compares current blockchain transparency to the pre-SSL internet, when users refused to enter credit card numbers due to a lack of encryption.

He maintains that crypto remains stuck in this vulnerable phase, preventing the scaling that transformed e-commerce into a $6 trillion industry.

Institutional adoption concerns center on the exposure of trade secrets and the competitive disadvantage resulting from visible treasury movements.

Golovko warns that no board will approve systems exposing supply chains or financial operations globally, limiting crypto to speculation rather than serious commerce.

Vitalik Buterin’s April privacy advocacy stemmed from similar concerns about AI-driven surveillance and data misuse eroding personal autonomy.

His roadmap outlined four areas for enhancing privacy: anonymous payments, application-level privacy, secure data access, and network obfuscation.

The Ethereum co-founder advocated for wallets to integrate tools like Railgun and Privacy Pools, creating “shielded balances” that enable private-by-default transactions.

He emphasized that separate addresses per dApp would eliminate traceable links between applications while maintaining usability.

European regulatory pressure adds urgency to the development of privacy.

Community member Eugenio Reggianini outlined GDPR compliance practices that require personal data to remain off-chain, with blockchain nodes relaying only encrypted references or proofs, rather than identifiable information.

Looking forward, the team aims to accelerate ecosystem adoption through community initiatives with privacy and robust security at the center of its decentralized identity systems.

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Hayden Davis, creator of the LIBRA token, has now described the crypto project as a memecoin in a recent court filing as part of a legal strategy to counter a class-action lawsuit. The American crypto entrepreneur and marketer continues to draw negative attention and remains under investigation following the highly questionable launch and crash of LIBRA in February 2025.

Davis’ Clash With US Private Investor Forces LIBRA Memecoin Admission – Report

The LIBRA project gained much popularity following public promotion by Argentine President Javier Milei on X, on February 14, 2025. The crypto token’s value soared to $5 in a few hours following its launch before plummeting to nearly $0. Since then, the nation’s leader has distanced himself from the crypto project while even authorizing an investigation into the event by the nation’s anti-corruption office.

According to local Argentine media Clarin, Omar Hurlock, a US private investor, through American law firm Burwick Law, has since initiated a class-action lawsuit against Hayden Davis and other persons behind LIBRA, including Benjamin Chow, co-founder of the Meteora platform, and Julian Peh, head of Kip Protocol.

In a 30-page defence against Hurlock’s claims of running a scam, Hayden Davis states the US investor has no evidence to back the complaints of ever purchasing tokens from him or other developers of the crypto project. In particular, Davis attacks Hurlock’s credibility to lead a class action in a case he is not a direct victim.

Furthermore, the crypto entrepreneur also publicly refers to LIBRA as a memecoin for the first time since the incident in February. Before this statement, the cryptocurrency had been previously described by all parties involved as an investment fund targeted at financing Argentine companies.

In ascribing memecoin status to LIBRA, the defendant emphasizes the speculative nature of this token while also claiming no promises were made to prospective investors. A statement from the brief reads:

Defendants provided no plans, details, or infrastructure to potential purchasers of the memecoin, nor did they provide detailed disclosures or tokenomic distribution information regarding how the funds raised would be allocated to fulfill the [allegedly] promised economic initiatives

The case is presently filed at the District Court for the Southern District of New York under Judge Jennifer L. Rochon and is scheduled for a hearing on August 19. The outcome of this lawsuit is also expected to influence the status of $250 million in frozen assets, which are linked to profits from the LIBRA project.

Price Overview

At press time, LIBRA trades at $0.01690 with its total market cap valued at $4.61 million.

Featured image from The Economist, chart from Tradingview

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EOS Network announced on March 18 that it will rebrand as Vaulta, marking a strategic shift toward web3 banking as it seeks to integrate decentralized technology with traditional financial systems.

The transition, which includes a token swap, is scheduled for late May 2025, pending confirmation.

The move represents years of development aimed at leveraging Bitcoin’s growing influence in global finance. Vaulta will position itself as a scalable operating system for web3 banking, offering fast transactions, blockchain connectivity, and decentralized data management.

Vaulta Foundation CEO and founder Yves La Rose said:

“This transformation represents more than just a name change; it’s a decisive step forward in our mission to deliver open, accessible financial access for everyone.”

Rebrand

As part of the rebrand, Vaulta will establish a Banking Advisory Council comprising experts from both traditional finance and blockchain sectors. The council will provide strategic guidance to bridge the gap between legacy banking and DeFi.

Members include Lawrence Truong, CEO of Systemic Trust; Didier Lavalle, CEO of Tetra; Alexander Nelson, senior director of digital finance at ATB Financial; and Jonathan Rizzo, senior business solution specialist at ATB Financial.

Nelson said:

“Vaulta’s realignment towards Web3 Banking is a significant development for the industry. This move not only opens the door for traditional funds to enter DeFi through Bitcoin but also paves the way for greater institutional acceptance.”

Vaulta will integrate with exSat, a Bitcoin digital banking solution, to reinforce Bitcoin’s role as the foundation of its decentralized financial ecosystem.

The platform’s technological infrastructure — previously developed under EOS — includes C++ smart contract architecture, a decentralized on-chain RAM database, and multi-chain interoperability features.

The firm has also announced strategic partnerships with Ceffu, Spirit Blockchain, and Blockchain Insurance Inc.

Vaulta aims to develop four core areas in web3 banking: Wealth Management, Consumer Payments, Portfolio Management, and Insurance. These pillars will enable new financial applications such as blockchain-native yield generation, real-world asset (RWA) investments, and customized insurance solutions.

Additional partnerships are expected in the coming months. The token ticker and swap portal launch remains set for late May, subject to further updates.

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