Ethereum’s EIP-7503 Takes Privacy to New Heights at Execution Layer Summit

Ethereum recently completed a community event, ACDE 171, discussing how to bring several transformative elements that could shape the future of the network, possibly bolstering security and privacy.

The event covered several broad topics, including Dencun Devnets, extensive audits, the much-awaited launch of Holesky, a pioneering proposal for private ETH transfers, and significant changes to the EIP-6780 specification.

The Enhancement of Privacy and Security

Tim Beiko, a popular member of the Ethereum community, gave a detailed recap of these events on X. The topics he highlighted include the development of devnet-9, the focus on blob transaction gossip, audits of the EIP-4788 contract bytecode, and the relaunch of Holesky.

Per the X posts, the event’s highlight was the introduction of EIP-7503, a proposition that, according to Beiko, will redefine private transfers on the Ethereum blockchain.

The authors of EIP 7503 were allowed to present the idea. According to Ethereum’s documentation, EIP 7503 was discovered when the developers were exploring ways to offer more privacy and applications of ZKP.

EIP-7501 introduces a new approach called “Burn and Remint,” which allows private transfers by burning and reminting ETH. By burning, individuals send the ETH to an unspendable address “and later build a ZK proof showing that some amount of tokens has been burnt in a transaction in an older block, without revealing the transaction.” The merger of ZKP, in this case, is designed to enhance privacy and security.

Beiko also shed some light on the audits for the EIP-4788 contract bytecode. It was reported that three independent auditors, including ChainSecurity, Dedaub, and Trail of Bits, have been contracted to scrutinize it. Representatives from both ChainSecurity and Dedaub confirmed on a call that no other issues were identified beyond those mentioned in the initial review.

Auditors reviewed changes, such as explicitly dealing with 0 being passed as a timestamp and changing the buffer length to be 100% used regardless of block time, and found no problems with the fixes. However, they highlighted two aspects that users of the beacon roots contract should be aware of.

Other Minor Issues Noted

Devnet 9 was also a matter of question at the event, and Beiko reported that the teams are already preparing and working to navigate various test cases. Other Devnets, which will be short-lived for testing purposes, were discussed.

Furthermore, a small proposed change under EIP-6780 would deactivate SELFDESTRUCT, except in the same transaction as contract creation.

The Execution Layer Meeting 171 comes just two weeks after Meeting 170, which was held on Sept. 14. As per the reports, the new ACDE meeting is scheduled for Oct. 12 at 14:00 UTC.