Ethereum developers propose privacy changes for next major upgrade

Ethereum’s core developers are laying the groundwork for what could be the network’s most meaningful privacy overhaul to date. A collection of proposals targeting the Hegotá network upgrade, planned for 2027, aims to bake privacy functionality directly into Ethereum’s base layer rather than leaving it to fragmented third-party solutions. The centerpiece is EIP-8141, dubbed “Frame Transactions,” which would enable gas fee abstraction from pooled funds. In plain terms: privacy pools could pay their own transaction fees without needing an outside relay or intermediary to submit the transaction on a user’s behalf. That matters because every time an external party touches a transaction, it creates a metadata trail that can be used to de-anonymize the sender. What’s on the table EIP-8141 doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s part of a broader package of 66 Ethereum Improvement Proposals under evaluation for Hegotá, several of which are specifically designed to strengthen on-chain privacy. EIP-8182 would introduce a native shared shielded pool for anonymous ETH and ERC-20 token transfers. Users could prove the legitimacy of their funds to regulators without revealing every transaction to the p...