He believes anonymity and confidentiality could make DeFi mainstream and reshape the financial landscape.
Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has stated that for crypto payments to achieve mass adoption, the industry must move from pseudonymity to confidentiality by default. In his view, ZK payments, or transactions based on zero-knowledge proofs, should become the new global standard.
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Buterin noted that this is especially important in the age of AI agents, which need a way to pay for services without creating traceable links back to their owners.
How Will ZK Payments Work?
The use of recursive SNARKs and ZK APIs will allow Layer-2 solutions to process private payments at the same speed and cost as regular transactions. Users will be able to verify a payment without revealing their balance or transaction history.
Mechanisms for selective disclosure and proof of innocence will be implemented. This will allow data to be shared with regulators or tax authorities without complete loss of privacy.
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Why Is This Critical for DeFi?
Vitalik believes ZK payments are the last missing piece for mainstream DeFi adoption. Transitioning to this standard will make Ethereum competitive with traditional banking systems while retaining instant settlement and low fees.
“The user experience will change: instead of managing public addresses, people will participate in a secure and confidential economy,” he noted.
According to Buterin’s forecast, the adoption of ZK standards will attract a new wave of institutional and corporate users who have previously avoided blockchain due to privacy concerns.
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