Rayls: A step ahead in achieving Vitalik’s Ethereum privacy vision
Blockchain privacy has become a hot topic, especially on Ethereum. In 2025, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published his “Maximally Simple” Layer-1 privacy roadmap. This plan lays out four key goals: make on-chain payments private by default, anonymize links between dApps (apps), protect data when reading the chain, and enable privacy without special wallets. Rayls is designed to meet these goals. Using a dual-layer structure—institution-run Privacy Nodes and our modular privacy protocol Enygma—we deliver privacy at scale, with compliance, and without compromising Ethereum compatibility.
Vitalik’s Vision for Ethereum Privacy
Vitalik’s roadmap focuses on improving privacy with minimal changes to Ethereum’s core. It outlines four key priorities:
- Privacy of on-chain payments: Users should be able to make private transactions by default.
- Partial anonymization in dApps: Activities within each application can be public, but there should be no public links between them.
- Privacy of reads to the chain (RPC calls): Blockchain queries should not reveal what data is being accessed.
- Network-level anonymity: Users shouldn’t need special wallets for privacy—tools should support it natively.
The roadmap suggests integrating privacy tools directly into existing wallets, promoting one address per application, and developing efficient methods for encrypted data queries. This pragmatic approach laid the foundation for a new privacy standard in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Rayls: A Blockchain Ecosystem for Financial Institutions
Rayls was built with privacy, compliance, and institutional scalability at its core. The architecture consists of:
- Rayls Privacy Nodes: Independent, institution-run private ledgers that are completely segregated and operated within each institution’s secure environment. These nodes support 10,000+ TPS and are fully EVM-compatible.
- Rayls Public Chain: A permissioned Layer 2 built on Arbitrum, connecting institutions and enabling private dApps.
-
Privacy is achieved not through default encryption of every transaction but by isolating data within each institution. No external party, including Rayls, can access the internal transactions of a Privacy Node. This setup ensures private token balances and transfers by design.
How We Implement Vitalik’s Privacy Vision
Rayls was designed to deliver on all four of Vitalik's key privacy goals. Here's how:
1. Privacy of On-Chain Payments
Internal transfers on a Rayls Privacy Node are inherently private, since each node operates independently and no external party can access its data. For cross-institution transactions, we use our modular privacy protocol Enygma, which supports shielded balances using zk-SNARKs and Fully Homomorphic Encryption. Enygma encrypts transaction details, ensuring that only transacting parties and an optional auditor can view the data. These transactions can also be processed at high speed, with privacy and compliance baked in.
2. Partial Anonymization Inside Applications
Enygma allows developers to deploy privacy directly within smart contracts on the Rayls Public Chain. Each dApp can create its own shielded privacy domain, with smart accounts tied to unique identities per application. This breaks linkability between apps and ensures user activity remains isolated, all while staying compliant through assignable auditing features.
3. Privacy of Reads to the Chain
We're actively working on RPC privacy. Enygma is being extended to support encrypted off-chain data validation using zkTLS, and our data structures are designed to accommodate Private Information Retrieval (PIR) in the future. These efforts ensure that user queries do not expose sensitive metadata.
4. Network-Level Anonymity
Users can transact privately without installing a special wallet. Enygma integrates directly into existing Ethereum workflows, allowing any EVM-compatible wallet to handle shielded balances and confidential transactions. With features like opt-in shielded accounts and programmable privacy, we make privacy accessible and intuitive.
We are committed to contributing to the open-source community. In 2025, we will open-source both Enygma and the Rayls Privacy Node software, enabling developers and institutions to integrate privacy into any EVM environment.
Conclusion
Vitalik’s roadmap laid out a clear vision for Ethereum privacy. At Rayls, we’ve brought that vision to life. With private-by-design infrastructure, programmable cryptographic privacy, and full EVM compatibility, we are redefining what privacy looks like for institutional and DeFi use cases alike.
We’re not waiting for privacy to become a standard, but we’re building it.
Subscribe to our newsletter
