Crypto Journalist

Anas Hassan

Crypto Journalist

Anas Hassan

About Author

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

Share

Last updated: 

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.

The pseudonymous SHIB marketing top executive, Lucie, has published a tweet, reacting to the recent Shiba Inu price dip. She gave the community a glimpse of hope, saying that things should change in the bullish way very soon — in the fall.

Meanwhile, the SHIB price has rebounded, attempting to recover from the recent price decline.

SHIB price falls hard, SHIB executive reacts

By Saturday morning, the second-biggest meme cryptocurrency, Shiba Inu, has faced a decline of 5%, falling from $0.00001267 to the $0.00001204 price level.

Over the past week, this decline constituted a substantial 11% as SHIB lost $0.00001352 in the current bear market.

Lucie reacted to this decline by stating that fall is going to be bullish due to the upcoming rate cuts. As for now, she stated that even though the SHIB price may be down, “that should never stop us from building and adopting Shibarium around the world.”

In the meantime, the SHIB price has rebounded by 3% and at the time of this writing is changing hands at $0.00001240 per coin.

You Might Also Like

SHIB burns jump 157,726.72%

According to the Shibburn platform, over the past day, the SHIB burn metric has faced a significant four-digit increase thanks to millions of meme coins getting driven out of circulation and locked in dead-end wallets.

The aforementioned data source revealed a crazy 157,726.72% surge in the daily SHIB burn rate as the community has succeeded in moving 2,411,616 SHIB coins to unspendable wallets, i.e., burned them.

As for the weekly SHIB burns, there is a 76.32% decline here, while the amount of meme coins that has been burned stands at 14,068,717 SHIB.

Official marketing lead of the Shiba Inu team, known under the pseudonym Lucie, has addressed the community on several issues in one X thread. Among them was a claim that SHIB has now overtaken Dogecoin as “people’s coin,” about the reluctance of developers to build on Shibarium and a new way of burning Shiba Inu coins.

New way to burn SHIB coins

In the X thread, Lucie mentioned that a lot of projects have been talking abut building something on Shiba Inu and Shibarium, but “so far there is almost nothing made specifically for SHIB.” The reason for this, she stresses, is that building new products costs money.

Lucie admitted that unlike with other blockchains (such as Ethereum or Cardano), there is no specific SHIB treasury to fund any new development. Therefore, “any product for SHIB has to generate its own revenue before it can actually be built.” The SHIB marketing lead also shared what she believes to be the only realistic approach in creating something on a blockchain, and that is “a clear vision and solid execution.”

One of the ways to earn SHIB, per her tweet, is to play the games developed by the SHIB team — they allow earning Shiba Inu. Another positive outcome of playing them is that this helps to burn SHIB coins: “Shibarium burns SHIB with every transaction, and you can use SHIB to play and win in those games.”

You Might Also Like

Is SHIB overtaking Dogecoin as “people’s coin”?

Lucie also claimed that “SHIB was, is, and always will be the people’s coin.” Long before that, tech entrepreneur and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, gave a similar definition to Dogecoin (DOGE), when stating that it was superior to Bitcoin in terms of being better designed for payments. Musk referred to DOGE as “the people’s currency.”

Currently, DOGE, which was launched in 2013 and became the first-ever meme coin created, occupies the eighth spot on CoinMarketCap with a market capitalization of $35.4 billion. As for Shiba Inu, it has recently gone down to the 22nd spot on the same scale, having a market capitalization of $7.9 billion.

Large volumes of Pudgy Penguin’s PENGU tokens are flowing from the project’s deployment address to centralized exchanges (CEXs), raising questions amid a strong market rally.

On July 28, blockchain analyst EmberCN, citing Arkham Intelligence data, reported that more than 206.9 million PENGU tokens, valued at approximately $8.91 million, were transferred to various CEXs within the past 24 hours.

He said this is part of a broader transfer pattern observed from the project’s team during the past month.

EmberCN pointed out that the PENGU team has transferred over 2 billion tokens, valued at around $66.6 million, to CEXs during the past month.

Token transfers to exchanges are commonly seen as a sign that holders might be preparing to sell. As a result, the recent PENGU team movements could be viewed as a potential step toward liquidation.

This surge in token movements coincides with a notable price increase. According to CryptoSlate’s market data, PENGU is trading at $0.04278 at the time of writing. The token has climbed 3.3% over the past day, gained over 17% in the past week, and jumped roughly 230% over the last month.

PENGU scam warnings

Meanwhile, the PENGU token rally appears to have drawn attention from scammers who have initiated a new wave of phishing scams targeting the NFT project token holders.

On July 27, Beau, the security expert at Pudgy Penguin, explained that the new scam involves sending small amounts of PENGU tokens, known as “dust,” to random wallets. These tokens use vanity address names that double as fake website URLs.

The security chief pointed out that this scam is designed to manipulate users into searching for these vanity names via Solscan.

From there, victims may unknowingly click phishing links that mimic Pudgy Penguins’ branding. If users connect their wallets, they are prompted to sign malicious transactions that drain their assets.

Beau clarified that no legitimate PENGU airdrop or claim is currently active.

He also highlighted another scam involving counterfeit PENGU tokens engineered to act as honeypots. These fake tokens can trap users during swaps and steal their funds.

These events reflect the growing sophistication of crypto scams, especially during market rallies. As PENGU gains momentum, users are urged to stay alert, verify token sources, and avoid interacting with unsolicited airdrops.

Mentioned in this article

Lumia, a blockchain platform focused on real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, is rolling out a new cross-chain model through a strategic integration with Avail Stack, according to a statement shared with CryptoSlate.

The partnership aims to improve how tokenized assets are created, verified, and moved across different blockchain networks.

Through this integration, Lumia will access Avail’s modular infrastructure, which is designed to tackle blockchain fragmentation.

Avail Stack’s core tools include scalable data availability, secure asset messaging, and cross-chain communication protocols.

Lumia plans to leverage these features to enable seamless liquidity for tokenized assets across chains while preserving security and data integrity.

Meanwhile, a key component of this upgrade is Avail Nexus. This messaging layer allows for the secure transfer of assets and the verification of data without relying on centralized systems.

Anurag Arjun, the co-founder of Avail, said:

“The full potential of tokenization will only be realized when assets are liquid, programmable, and globally verifiable. To enable that, we need infrastructure that guarantees a composable and interoperable environment; one where tokenized assets aren’t locked into singular ecosystems, but can move freely across chains with compliance, security and scalability embedded at the base layer.”

Scaling real-world assets

The move aligns with Lumia’s broader vision of bringing RWAs into mainstream crypto finance. The platform already supports tokenized real estate projects worth over $220 million, including two significant developments in Istanbul.

Lumia has also signed a $1 billion asset agreement with the Sen Group and distributed over 25,000 HyperNodes.

Lumia offers tokenization services for various assets, including real estate, luxury goods, and commodities. It uses Polygon’s CDK to implement zero-knowledge security and maintain compliance with global regulations.

The upcoming launch of Lumia Hub will allow developers and users to tokenize and manage RWAs using lightweight NFT and smart contract tools.

The platform is positioning itself for what analysts say could be a $16 trillion tokenization market by 2030. According to CEO Kal Ali, the need for scalable, secure RWA infrastructure is growing rapidly as institutions look to tap into blockchain-based finance.

Michael Saylor, the billionaire Bitcoin advocate and executive chairman of Strategy, is backing Pakistan’s state-led Bitcoin pivot, according to new footage and media reports emerging from Islamabad.

A call with top officials marks the latest escalation in Pakistan’s plan to formalize a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).

The video footage, posted on X by Finance Ministry media officer Hamid Raza Wattoo, shows Saylor with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Minister of State for Blockchain and Crypto Bilal Bin Saqib. The meetings follow Pakistan’s public announcement of the SBR on 28 May at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas.

Saylor’s outreach aligns with his long-standing call for sovereign Bitcoin reserves. While he has previously lobbied U.S. policymakers to adopt a Bitcoin strategy, his Islamabad support signals an interest in showcasing Pakistan as a geopolitical proof of concept. He is reportedly becoming an official advisor to the government’s Bitcoin reserve plan via the Pakistan Crypto Council.

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was also appointed a strategic adviser to the council in early April. His remit includes steering blockchain infrastructure, shaping the regulatory framework, and mentoring national digital-asset initiatives. This gives Islamabad a direct line to the world’s largest exchange as it pursues the Bitcoin reserve plan.

Pakistan’s reserve plan, championed by Bin Saqib, was introduced as a state initiative with plans to acquire Bitcoin using state assets and mine additional BTC using domestic energy resources. The Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC), which Bin Saqib also leads, has proposed allocating up to 2 GW of surplus energy to power mining facilities and data centers.

IMF tensions and energy politics

The plan has sparked tensions with international lenders. The IMF raised concerns about grid stress and fiscal strain if 2 GW were diverted for mining. Pakistan is currently seeking a new bailout agreement, and its power infrastructure is considered fragile.

Despite this, the PCC has continued promoting the reserve as a path toward “digital non-alignment”, leveraging Bitcoin to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar and traditional credit channels. A PCC delegation even pitched the reserve to Donald Trump’s crypto-aligned economic team on 4 June in Washington.

Pakistan’s crypto policy remains complex. While the reserve is government-led, general crypto trading remains technically illegal under the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) guidelines. The government is reportedly preparing a Digital Assets Authority bill, which may offer legal clarity when Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance reconvenes.

Regional analysts are also watching closely. Pakistan’s pivot could ripple across South Asia. However, the move could unsettle major creditors like China, which has poured billions into Pakistan’s energy sector through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

What’s next?

It remains to be seen how Saylor plans to assist in an ongoing role in implementing the reserve and whether he will be working directly with CZ.

In the meantime, the SBR initiative is advancing quickly. With a sovereign reserve, surplus energy, and now the world’s most prominent Bitcoin evangelist in the picture, Pakistan is testing whether a fragile economy can hedge its bets with digital gold.

Mentioned in this article