Summary of the proposal
A gathering space for people building, exploring, and using privacy on Ethereum and around it, not just inside the chain. The Privacy Hub connects onchain privacy tooling with the offchain layers that quietly determine whether that privacy actually holds (RPC providers, wallets, web UIs, indexers, analytics), and with newer frontiers like private banking rails and the human layer of the AI economy.
Privacy is only as strong as its weakest link. This hub treats privacy as a stack, not a single ZK circuit, and gives builders, non-tech attendees, and regulators a shared, neutral space to work through it.
- Showcase real privacy applications, both onchain (ZK, stealth addresses, private banking rails) and offchain (private compute, private data storage, private transport/networking)
- Provide hands-on demos attendees can actually try, not just watch
- Make private onchain banking (cards, stablecoin payroll, KYC) legible to a non-technical audience
- Explore privacy for the humans behind AI systems, verification and reputation without surveillance
- Connect builders, researchers, legal/compliance folks, and everyday users across all of the above
Motivation and rationale
Privacy is a fundamental property of Ethereum. As the ARG Privacy Hub put it, more people are realizing that privacy is not about hiding, it’s about protecting freedom, autonomy, and sovereignty. As applications become more integrated into daily life, more personal, more social, and more global, the need for privacy only gets more urgent and more obvious.
That hub set out to bring cohesion to a privacy ecosystem that was otherwise scattered across teams and formats: hands-on demos, peer-to-peer learning, and honest discussion about privacy, why it matters and how it actually works, rather than a single company’s pitch from a stage.
This proposal continues that same mission for Devcon 8 India: a welcoming, practical gathering space where privacy is made real and approachable, where attendees leave having tried a tool rather than just watched a slide, and where the ecosystem’s builders can compare notes, debate open problems, and coordinate instead of working in parallel silos.
How would this Community Hub enhance the attendee experience?
Attendees get a single space to:
- See and try real privacy tools across the stack (wallets, VPN/transport tools, ZK-KYC, card infra)
- Understand what a “private by default” crypto card or payroll setup actually requires
- Get their bearings on private compute, private data storage, and private data-in-transit, the parts of the stack that rarely get stage time
- Learn what it means to prove you’re a real, qualified human contributor to an AI system without exposing who you are
- Talk directly to builders, legal/compliance people, and researchers instead of hearing a single company’s pitch
How would it complement Devcon 8 India?
It gives Devcon’s CROPS privacy track a home base that’s broader than any single vertical, while still being concrete enough to produce working demos and real conversations. It also plants an early flag on privacy in AI-human-contributor pipelines, a topic that will only grow as Ethereum-based reputation and verification systems intersect with AI labor markets.
Why a Community Hub instead of a one-time talk or workshop?
Private banking rails, offchain privacy infrastructure, and AI-contributor privacy are each being built by different, often non-overlapping teams who rarely share a stage. A hub format lets them show up over multiple days, run live demos side by side, and have the debates (compliance vs. privacy, custodial vs. non-custodial, “zk all the things” vs. “fix the offchain leaks first”) that a single 20-minute talk can’t hold.
Implementation
Everything mentioned in RFP-13 is adequate to host this Community Hub.
We need:
- A dedicated physical space within the Devcon 8 venue (capacity ~30–40 people)
- Seating: bean bags/cushions + 1 worktable for up to 6 people
- 1 LED TV screen on a stand + HDMI, plus a second screen for a live demo “wall” (privacy apps running unattended)
- 2 whiteboards + 2 cork/magnetic boards (one for a privacy events timeline, one as a community feedback board)
- Power outlets, small cabinet, shared storage for larger items
- 1 wired Ethernet connection
- A limited number of Devcon 8 tickets for the organizing team and engaged contributors
- Coordination support from the Devcon Community Hubs team
- Inclusion in official Devcon communications and the Community Hubs program
Programming
Talks, panels, fireside chats, workshops, and gamified exercises, organized around four tracks that run in parallel across the week rather than displacing one another:
1. Private Onchain Banking: cards, stablecoin payroll, ZK-KYC, compliance
2. Practical Privacy: wallet demos (Kohuku, Keycard, Shell), privacy 101, setting up a TEE app, private data-in-transit (networking/VPN-layer tools)
3. Core Onchain Privacy: ZK, stealth addresses, shielded pools, anonymity-set fundamentals
4. Privacy for the AI-Human Layer: verifying humans without exposing identity, onchain reputation without surveillance, private compute for human-in-the-loop AI systems
Sessions run 5–6 hours/day with breaks for informal conversation, in the spirit of a “tight but not brittle” schedule.
Example day
- Panel: Crypto cards are only private if they’re private by default. Q&A with card issuers on why it wasn’t there from day one.
- Workshop: Beyond the chain, auditing your own stack for RPC, DNS, and analytics leakage.
- Talk: Verifying a human contributor to an AI system without exposing who they are. What role does private compute play when AI needs human judgment at scale?
- Fireside chat: Private data-in-transit in practice, a first look at a VPN-layer privacy tool built for Web3, and where it fits next to ZK.
- Discussion: Onchain reputation without surveillance, can a contributor build a track record without a platform building a profile on them?
- Roundtable: Builders vs. regulators. Can private banking and compliance coexist?
Topic pool
Flexible formats: fireside chat, panel, workshop, talk, open discussion. Flag more ideas below.
Banking & payments
- Privacy-preserving KYC
- Onchain-to-card rails
- Zero-knowledge proofs for spend verification
- Metadata leakage in “private” crypto cards
- Stablecoin payroll without exposing salaries
- Travel Rule meets card networks
- Cash parity, custodial vs. privacy tradeoffs
Practical privacy
- Privacy 101
- Common bugs in zkVM projects
- App permissions and false senses of privacy
- Protecting yourself from IP-based tracking
- Onboarding without extra KYC
Core onchain privacy
- Anonymity-set fundamentals (why size matters)
- Stealth addresses and shielded pools
- Deanonymization attacks and how to defend against them
Privacy for the AI-human layer
- Verifying a real, qualified human without exposing identity
- Onchain reputation for AI contributors without surveillance
- Private compute for human-in-the-loop AI evaluation
- Data minimization vs. platform business models in AI labor markets
Cross-cutting
- Can privacy and compliance coexist?
- The “nothing to hide” fallacy, applied to money and to AI labor
- Financial and behavioral surveillance by default, and how to opt out
We’re open to more topic ideas that lead to constructive discussion rather than promoting any single card, protocol, or platform.
Team
- Chandresh: Gnosis, Circles, IDRISS; leads ETHMumbai
- Aman: Web3 Mumbai / ETHMumbai, logistics & ops
- Jinia: Blockwee events team, ETHMumbai core team
- Parth: Co-founder, SE7EN & Co.; ETHMumbai core team
We remain open to adding more core team members and guest contributors.
Neutrality & Code of Conduct
This hub is a neutral, cooperative space. Organizers and contributors represent different projects and companies, often competitors, but all agree:
- No project or token promotiom
- No branding or shilling
- Every session curated by at least 3 organizers from different orgs to ensure neutrality