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What Is a Stealth Address? Vitalik’s Solution for Privacy on Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, recently published an article discussing the addition of privacy to the Ethereum network through what is referred to as a Stealth Address. In his article, Buterin explains how a stealth address works and its potential to increase privacy for users on the Ethereum network. In this article, I explain how Stealth Addresses work in a basic manner using an example: Alice wants to send Bob 1.2 ETH.
Why Are Stealth Addresses Needed?
The idea that public blockchains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin are private is a common misunderstanding; to be clear, public blockchains are not private. Public blockchains offer some form of privacy through pseudonymity in the form of wallet addresses. But you can think of the wallet address as a username; once someone pinpoints your username, they can see everything you’ve ever done with it.
Every interaction that a wallet address makes on-chain, including transactions, interactions with decentralized applications, purchases…
