{"id":44722,"date":"2026-05-26T18:45:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722"},"modified":"2026-05-26T18:45:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:45:30","slug":"vitalik-buterin-pushes-privacy-and-security-as-ef-priorities-while-aaves-kulechov-bets-on-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722","title":{"rendered":"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave’s Kulechov bets on revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is doubling down on privacy and security tooling even as critics demand the organization do more to support ETH\u2019s price, which has dropped nearly 60% against Bitcoin over five years.<\/b><\/p>\n

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, on May 26, promoted Kohaku, a privacy-focused initiative housed inside the EF, calling for security and privacy to become \u201cnormal\u201d on Ethereum\u2019s access layer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The endorsement comes days after Buterin published a lengthy defense of the foundation\u2019s strategy, stating that it should remain a research body and not an ETH price support mechanism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Buterin\u2019s position is in sharp contrast with Aave founder Stani Kulechov, who on May 23 publicly committed to a 12-month \u201crevenue-led protocol strategy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What did Vitalik say about Kohaku?\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Buterin\u2019s post on X highlighted work by EF contributors, who have spent close to a year building Kohaku. The project targets two properties at Ethereum\u2019s access layer, which are security (including trustlessness) and privacy, which covers both read and write operations, according to <\/span>Buterin\u2019s post<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kassandraeth, who identifies as part of the Kohaku Initiative inside the EF, wrote on May 25 that she wanted to \u201cget a bit more public\u201d about the work and address confusion around the project. \u201cBest way to clarify things is to speak candidly and openly about what I\u2019m working on day-to-day,\u201d <\/span>she wrote on X<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kohaku GitHub repository describes the project as \u201cprivacy-first tooling for the Ethereum ecosystem.\u201d It includes libraries for the Railgun privacy protocol, privacy pools, a provider abstraction layer, and a post-quantum 4337 account implementation, according to the <\/span>repository\u2019s README<\/span><\/a>. Several components are marked as works in progress.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kohaku fits into a broader privacy roadmap Buterin has been building throughout 2026. <\/span>Cryptopolitan has previously reported<\/span><\/a> that Buterin named three active technical efforts in May: account abstraction paired with FOCIL (a forced inclusion list mechanism), a keyed nonces proposal (EIP-8250), and access-layer work including Kohaku.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

EIP-8250 would replace Ethereum\u2019s single sender nonce with a two-part system designed to prevent observers from linking transactions originating from the same account.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is the Ethereum Foundation under fire?<\/span><\/h3>\n

While the privacy push is being discussed, at least eight senior contributors have left EF or announced departures in 2026, with five of these exits coming in May alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the most recent are Carl Beek, who spent seven years at the foundation and played a role in the Beacon Chain launch, and Julian Ma, a cryptoeconomics researcher who served for four years, both of whom announced their departures on May 18, as <\/span>Cryptopolitan reported<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buterin responded on May 25 with a public statement calling the EF \u201cone node, with a defined purpose, alongside other nodes\u201d rather than Ethereum\u2019s central authority. He disclosed that the foundation holds roughly 0.16% of circulating ETH and said it plans to reduce token sales while narrowing its mission to what he called CROPS: censorship resistance, capture resistance, openness, privacy, and security.<\/span><\/p>\n

The foundation has faced repeated pressure from ETH holders who have been frustrated by the token\u2019s performance. ETH trades around $2,136, which is less than half its level last August and down sharply against Bitcoin over a multi-year window.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, for Buterin, EF should not orient itself around price support, a position he reiterated in his May 25 post by stating that chasing throughput and speed would be \u201ca route to mediocrity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Aave takes the opposite tack<\/span><\/h3>\n

Where Buterin distances the EF from revenue concerns, Kulechov is leaning into them. The Aave founder announced on May 23 that the lending protocol would pursue a revenue-led strategy over the next 12 months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSustainable, consistent revenue is what proves that DeFi can evolve beyond pure token speculation into durable businesses backed by balance sheets,\u201d <\/span>Kulechov wrote on X<\/span><\/a>, as reported by Cryptopolitan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aave generated $7.96 million in fees over the past seven days and holds over $14 billion in total value locked, according to DeFiLlama data. Its V4 crossed $100 million in combined deposits and loans on May 22, with institutional lending ambitions expanding alongside plans to grow GHO, the protocol\u2019s overcollateralized stablecoin.<\/span><\/p>\n

The divergence between the two camps captures a live debate inside Ethereum\u2019s community, with some leaning towards prioritizing philosophical commitments to privacy, decentralization, and censorship resistance, while others believe protocol-level revenue generation is what will sustain long-term adoption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Buterin is betting on the former, while Kulechov is building for the latter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It’s free<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is doubling down on privacy and security tooling even as critics demand the organization do more to support ETH\u2019s price, which has dropped nearly 60% against Bitcoin over five years. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, on May 26, promoted Kohaku, a privacy-focused initiative housed inside the EF, calling for security and privacy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nVitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave's Kulechov bets on revenue - Cryptomag<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave's Kulechov bets on revenue - Cryptomag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is doubling down on privacy and security tooling even as critics demand the organization do more to support ETH\u2019s price, which has dropped nearly 60% against Bitcoin over five years. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, on May 26, promoted Kohaku, a privacy-focused initiative housed inside the EF, calling for security and privacy […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cryptomag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T18:45:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/generic-crypto-image.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Crypto Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cryptomagz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cryptomagz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Crypto Magazine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Crypto Magazine\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040\"},\"headline\":\"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave’s Kulechov bets on revenue\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T18:45:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722\"},\"wordCount\":749,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Heavily-criticized-Ethereum-Foundation-touts-privacy-security-progress-over-price-control-xSUhkb.webp\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722\",\"name\":\"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave's Kulechov bets on revenue - Cryptomag\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Heavily-criticized-Ethereum-Foundation-touts-privacy-security-progress-over-price-control-xSUhkb.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T18:45:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Heavily-criticized-Ethereum-Foundation-touts-privacy-security-progress-over-price-control-xSUhkb.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Heavily-criticized-Ethereum-Foundation-touts-privacy-security-progress-over-price-control-xSUhkb.webp\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?p=44722#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave’s Kulechov bets on revenue\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cryptomag\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040\",\"name\":\"Crypto Magazine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Crypto Magazine\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/cryptomagz\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cryptomag.finance\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave's Kulechov bets on revenue - Cryptomag","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave's Kulechov bets on revenue - Cryptomag","og_description":"The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is doubling down on privacy and security tooling even as critics demand the organization do more to support ETH\u2019s price, which has dropped nearly 60% against Bitcoin over five years. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, on May 26, promoted Kohaku, a privacy-focused initiative housed inside the EF, calling for security and privacy […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722","og_site_name":"Cryptomag","article_published_time":"2026-05-26T18:45:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":560,"url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/generic-crypto-image.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Crypto Magazine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cryptomagz","twitter_site":"@cryptomagz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Crypto Magazine","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722"},"author":{"name":"Crypto Magazine","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#\/schema\/person\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040"},"headline":"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave’s Kulechov bets on revenue","datePublished":"2026-05-26T18:45:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722"},"wordCount":749,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/Heavily-criticized-Ethereum-Foundation-touts-privacy-security-progress-over-price-control-xSUhkb.webp","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722","url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722","name":"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave's Kulechov bets on revenue - Cryptomag","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/Heavily-criticized-Ethereum-Foundation-touts-privacy-security-progress-over-price-control-xSUhkb.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-26T18:45:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#\/schema\/person\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/Heavily-criticized-Ethereum-Foundation-touts-privacy-security-progress-over-price-control-xSUhkb.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/wp-content\/uploads\/Heavily-criticized-Ethereum-Foundation-touts-privacy-security-progress-over-price-control-xSUhkb.webp","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=44722#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vitalik Buterin pushes privacy and security as EF priorities while Aave’s Kulechov bets on revenue"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/","name":"Cryptomag","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/#\/schema\/person\/f749cd846c4f13ef717c12a20ce9d040","name":"Crypto Magazine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c24e7a3322cdb9140c7dde381c870ae2c527e0dc5af67ed7a7db042bb2e1d14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Crypto Magazine"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cryptomag.finance","https:\/\/x.com\/cryptomagz"],"url":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}