Ethereum developers revive privacy with new token standards

Privacy is again drawing attention in the Ethereum ecosystem as developers propose new token standards. The pERC-20 proposal would let users hold and transfer tokens without publicly revealing balances, transaction amounts or counterparties, a sharp departure from today's ERC-20 tokens that display balances and histories onchain.

Rather than public account balances, pERC-20 would represent tokens as encrypted cryptographic "notes," keeping transaction details private while still allowing the network to verify integrity. The total supply of a token would remain visible, and the proposal includes a compliance mechanism that lets issuers freeze specific notes via a cryptographic blacklist without exposing ordinary users' balances or histories.

Others are pushing privacy beyond simple transfers. Starknet launched STRK20, a framework aiming to bring confidentiality into decentralized finance activities such as lending, staking and token swaps.

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