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Ethereum Privacy for Institutions | Mo Jalil and Oskar Thoren

52 min

Mo Jalil and Oskar Thoren, co-founders of ETH Systems (spun out of the Ethereum Foundation), discuss the critical need for privacy on Ethereum to onboard institutions. They explain that while Ethereum provides deep liquidity and new business opportunities, institutions require confidentiality and compliance, which cryptography can provide. ETH Systems bridges the gap by engaging with institutions to understand their specific constraints, building bespoke solutions, and generalizing them into open-source libraries and scalable products.

Summarized by Podsumo

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✨ Key Takeaways

1

ETH Systems is a for-profit entity spun out of the Ethereum Foundation to focus on institutional privacy on Ethereum.
2

Institutions demand privacy not just as a feature but as a compliance requirement, often needing complex solutions like multi-party transactions and confidential interdealer compressions.
3

The most common institutional privacy needs include confidential payments, compliance-friendly DeFi integration, and secure multi-party transaction compressions.
4

ETH Systems uses a "cypherpunks in the boardroom" approach, translating institutional needs into technical specifications and open-source building blocks.
5

Privacy is not about hiding everything but about selective disclosure—allowing verification of aggregate metrics (e.g., TVL) while keeping individual transactions confidential.

💬 Notable Quotes

"Privacy is not about hiding; it's about who can see what, when, and how."

— Oskar Thoren
"If you can verify anything you want but keep transactions private, that's a better product."

— Mo Jalil
"Ethereum's transparency is great, but for institutions, it's a deal-breaker. That's where cryptography comes in."

— David (Host)