ETHereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin has backed a proposal to create a new extension for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), where only the new owners of pre-owned NFTs can see who previously held them, as they would not be visible to everybody through blockchain data.
New Proposal for Anonymous NFT Ownership
ETHereum researcher Anton Wahrstätter, more popularly known as “Nerolation”, has put forward a proposal to add an “ERC721 extension for zk-SNARKs.” Nerolation proposes the addition of ZK-SNARK compatible ERC721 tokens to the Merkle tree on-chain for greater anonymity, which would obscure public blockchain transactions by generating one-time addresses and utilizing zero-knowledge proofs.
According to Wahrstätter, the proposal is “the exact implementation of what Vitalik described” when he talked about the need for privacy in his newly introduced SoulBound Tokens (SBTs).
Buterin Proposes Regular Stealth Addresses
Although Buterin liked the idea of anonymous NFT transactions, he didn’t agree with the entire proposal. According to Buterin, implementing Wahrstätter’s proposal could see users pay “5–50 times” the regular fees for NFT transactions, making it impractical.
The ETHereum co-founder suggested that smart contract wallets could integrate codes that allow the sender to mask their address from third parties. Buterin’s suggestion would see the implementation of “regular stealth addresses”, without the need for complex Merkle trees.
On the Flipside
The trade volume of NFTs has been one of the most impacted by the crypto winter, dropping 64% in the second quarter of 2022 (at a sum of $12.22 billion in sales).
Why You Should Care
The proposal seeks to create a balance between semi-anonymity and transparency on the blockchain.
