After the boom in Ether (ETH) prices, new privacy concerns arise.
A researcher at Ethereum Foundation (EF), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Ethereum and related technologies, claims that the IP addresses of Ether (ETH) stakers are monitored.
The news was revealed by EF researcher Justin Drake during an interview on the crypto podcast, called Bankless.
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In an interview, Drake claimed he learned about it "internally." On top of that, EF researchers alleged that IP addresses are only the tip of the iceberg. The collection of IP addresses is part of a broader metadata collection, which includes deposit addresses, withdrawal addresses, and fee recipients.
The podcast host Ryan Sean Adams, was taken aback by Drake's statement and asked Drake, "so it’s a fairly Sybil resistant dataset of your most involved Ethereum citizens?" The Ethereum Foundation researcher responded to the question, "exactly."
Drake's disclosure led to a thought-provoking discussion when he suggested that solo stakers might be eligible for "special airdrops" while major industry players like Kraken and Coinbase could be excluded.
Then you can identify, okay, we know who Kraken is, we know who Coinbase is, and we can just not give them an airdrop if the purpose of the airdrop is to airdrop to specific individuals that are running solo validators.
Crypto enthusiasts on Twitter quickly responded to the news, with some users labeling Ether as the "real surveillance coin." Another user pointed out the situation as illustrating "central governance to a T."
In light of these privacy concerns, a Twitter user recommended that Ethereum users implement on-chain privacy measures, such as using a Linux operating system, employing a Virtual Private Network (VPN), and storing crypto assets on hardware wallets like Ledger.
It is important to note that this is not the first time privacy concerns have stirred the crypto community. In November, ConsenSys, the team behind the Ethereum wallet Metamask, began collecting IP addresses in order to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering.
It is worth noting that privacy concerns come in light of the recent Shanghai upgrade, which allows users to withdraw their staked ETH from the Beacon Chain.
