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Ethereum Deveveloper Unveils Zero-Knowledge ‘Secret Santa’ Privacy Tool
Last Updated: December 02, 2025
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Key Takeaways
- Ethereum developer Artem Chystiakov proposed the ZKSS protocol to bring privacy to blockchain interactions using zero-knowledge proofs;
- The “Secret Santa” model highlights challenges in hiding senders, generating randomness, and preventing duplicate entries on Ethereum;
- ZKSS uses a relayer and cryptographic proofs to keep gift senders anonymous while maintaining fairness and transparency on-chain.
Ethereum
Artem Chystiakov, an Ethereum developer, shared details of his idea on the Ethereum community forum in a post titled Zero Knowledge Secret Santa (ZKSS).
The concept, first published on arXiv in January, outlines a three-step "Secret Santa" protocol designed for Ethereum.
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In a typical Secret Santa game, people anonymously exchange gifts during the holidays. Each person gives a gift to someone without revealing their identity and receives one from another participant.
Chystiakov’s proposal adapts this idea for Ethereum, where every transaction is public.
He explained that three main issues make this difficult to implement on the blockchain. First, all Ethereum transactions are public, which means it is impossible to hide who sends a gift to whom.
Second, blockchains do not produce random numbers on their own, so participants need to generate randomness in a fair way. Third, the system must prevent users from entering multiple times or assigning a gift to themselves.
To solve these problems, the proposed Solidity-based prototype uses zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic tool that enables users to prove something is true without revealing the details.
The ZKSS model also includes a transaction relayer that submits transactions on behalf of users. This step helps keep the sender’s address private.
Recently, Tom Lee stated that Ethereum could follow Bitcoin’s long-term growth path and called it the start of a new "supercycle". How? Read the full story.
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