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An investigator at the Ethereum Foundation (EF) disclosed that the IP addresses of Ether (ETH) stakers are tracked as part of a larger collection of metadata, prompting the cryptocurrency community to raise concerns regarding Ethereum’s privacy.
In an interview on the crypto podcast Bankless on April 12, EF researcher Justin Drake shared that he acquired this information “internally” — likely within EF.
The metadata Drake mentioned is utilized to monitor a variety of elements, he clarified:
“There’s a lot of metadata, you can look at deposit addresses, you can look at withdrawal addresses, you can look at fee recipients, you can look at IP addresses.”
Drake’s remarks seemed to catch Bankless host Ryan Sean Adams off guard.
Ethereum = 1984 chain
Justin Drake, who serves as a “Researcher” at the Ethereum Foundation, stated today that when you stake your ETH, your IP address can be tracked.
He claims to possess “internal” knowledge that such databases are in existence. pic.twitter.com/2V6DvTobL3— Pledditor (@Pledditor) April 13, 2023
“So it’s a fairly Sybil resistant dataset of your most involved Ethereum citizens?” Adams inquired.
“Exactly,” Drake replied.
The discussion began when Drake speculated that “special airdrops” might be offered to solo stakers — excluding the major players in the industry:
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“Then you can identify, okay, we know who Kraken is, we know who Coinbase is, and we can just not give them an airdrop if the purpose of the airdrop is to airdrop to specific individuals that are running solo validators.”
The dialogue generated significant buzz on Crypto Twitter.
Related: Crypto privacy is in greater jeopardy than ever before — here's why
One Twitter user labeled Ether as the “real surveillance coin,” while another ridiculed Drake by sarcastically reiterating his statement: “We can stop censorship by censoring those we don’t like.”
Another characterized the situation as “central governance to a T.”
To address the privacy issues, one Twitter user recommended that Ethereum participants take on-chain privacy measures into their own hands by installing a Linux operating system, utilizing a Virtual Private Network (VPN), and keeping cryptoassets on a hardware wallet like Ledger:
DeFi security setup:
– Linux system
– VPN 24/7
– Ledger (hardware wallet)
Protect yourselves from data mining and scams
Am I missing anything? https://t.co/X2YrGwpbdx— DeFi Crypto Vaults (@DefiVaults) April 13, 2023
This is not the first privacy-related comment to stir controversy within the crypto community.
ConsenSys, the organization behind the Ethereum wallet Metamask, began gathering IP addresses in November. This policy change was implemented to ensure compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations where applicable.
Cointelegraph reached out to Drake and the Ethereum Foundation for a statement but did not receive an immediate reply.
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