Tomer, SDF Chief Product Officer, outlines Stellar's privacy strategy combining blockchain transparency with user privacy through opt-in, configurable solutions. SDF is funding privacy projects, building ZK infrastructure, and developing confidential token and private payment protocols with partners like Nethermind.
Tomer, Chief Product Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation, presented SDF's comprehensive privacy strategy for Stellar. The foundation is addressing the tension between blockchain transparency and financial privacy by pursuing three core principles: maintaining blockchain openness by default, offering opt-in configurable privacy at the application level, and ensuring compliance-readiness for regulated institutions. SDF is executing three work streams: supporting innovation through academic grants and the Stellar Community Fund (funding projects like Moonlight, Human Tech, and Amon Privacy), investing in infrastructure including zero-knowledge cryptography support (Circom, Noirlang, Risk Zero ZK VM), and building open-source solutions. Key initiatives include a confidential token implementation allowing hidden balances with auditor access, and a private payments protocol developed with Nethermind that obfuscates both transaction amounts and parties. SDF recently joined the Confidential Token Association to define interoperable standards alongside OpenZeppelin, Inco, and Zama.
