Public network. Private intentions.
Ethereum makes account activity public. Anon Ethereum explains what that reveals, how an address can be linked to a person, and which wallet habits or privacy methods address each risk.
Understand your exposure.
Privacy, without the myths
Start with what is public. Understand the limits before choosing a tool.
EXPLORE THE GUIDE →Your wallet. Your boundaries.
Practical habits for keys, permissions, and the services between you and the chain.
EXPLORE THE GUIDE →Inside the privacy stack
Explore proofs, infrastructure, and the trade-offs behind private applications.
EXPLORE THE GUIDE →Essential reading.
Ethereum is public. Your identity is the missing piece.
Learn why Ethereum is pseudonymous rather than anonymous, what an address reveals, and how names and public profiles can connect activity to a person.
Build a privacy threat model before picking tools
Build an Ethereum privacy threat model around the observer, exposed information, practical precautions, and the limitations that remain.
Address reuse and ENS can turn separate moments into a profile
Understand how Ethereum address reuse, public ENS names, and repeated payments can connect activity to an identity.
Is Ethereum anonymous? Start with what a stranger can see
Ethereum is pseudonymous, not anonymous. An ordinary address does not contain your name, but its public activity can still tell a story. Transfers, contract interactions, and links to other addresses create a record that someone else can inspect. The missing piece may be a name, a social profile, or a payment you have already described in public.
That does not mean every guess about an address is correct. A visible transfer shows that funds moved between accounts. It does not, by itself, explain who controls both accounts or why the payment happened. Good privacy thinking separates a recorded fact from an inference. Our guide to Ethereum’s public account history starts with this distinction.
A public record can outlive the moment
Imagine sharing a donation address on a public profile. Someone who follows the link may see more than the donation they sent. They may also inspect earlier transfers and later activity. Removing the profile link does not remove those transactions. Before publishing an address, decide whether you are comfortable with that history becoming part of your public identity.
Transparency can be useful when you want other people to verify a payment. The question is whether you intended to reveal the surrounding activity too. Treat an address as a durable identifier, rather than a detail that disappears when a conversation ends.
A private name does not make a private account
You can keep your name out of a wallet label and still reveal it elsewhere. An invoice, an exchange account, a screenshot, or a readable ENS name can connect identity and activity. The link may be held by one company rather than visible to every visitor, but it still changes who can learn what.
Our explanation of address reuse and ENS shows why convenience and disclosure often arrive together. Separate addresses can help organize different activities. They do not erase a visible transfer between those activities or remove records that a service already holds.
Three privacy questions that need different answers
There is no single switch that makes every part of using Ethereum private. Start by asking where information appears and who receives it. A browser setting, a wallet permission, and an onchain record belong to different layers. A useful precaution should name the layer it changes.
| Information | Who might see it? | A useful first question |
|---|---|---|
| Public transfers and contract calls | Anyone inspecting the chain | Have I linked this address to my public identity? |
| Balance requests and connection details | The service receiving wallet requests | Which RPC provider does my wallet use? |
| Account details and app sessions | The app or service holding those records | What did I share when I signed in or connected? |
Onchain information is only one part of the picture
An RPC provider is a service that answers requests about the network. A wallet may ask it for balances or transaction status. Those requests are separate from sending a transaction. A person can therefore avoid making a new public transfer while still sharing information with the service that handles a request. The wallet privacy guide explains what to review without pretending every wallet uses the same setup.
Write a small threat model before choosing a tool
A threat model is a plain list of what you want to protect, from whom, and why. “I do not want people reading my public profile to browse my savings activity” is more useful than “I want total privacy.” It gives you a specific connection to examine. It also lets you explain what your chosen precaution leaves exposed.
Use the threat model walkthrough to record an observer, a piece of information, a precaution, and its limit. You do not need to put private keys, recovery phrases, or detailed balances into that document. Review the assumptions when you publish an address or begin using a new service.
Review wallet habits without connecting a wallet here
Our local privacy checklist is a way to organize a review. It does not request your address or connect to your wallet. Checking a box means you considered that habit; it does not prove that nobody can follow your activity. The useful result is a clearer list of decisions, not an anonymity score.
Separate a connection from a spending permission
Disconnecting an app ends a wallet connection, but it does not automatically remove a token allowance recorded onchain. An allowance is permission for a contract to spend a token under the terms of that approval. Review the connection and the allowance as separate things. Our token approval explanation describes why closing a session is not the same action as changing a permission.
Before approving a request, read what it asks for. A familiar logo or a connected wallet is not evidence that every new request is appropriate. If the interface does not make the action clear, pause and work out what permission would change.
Keep the review itself from becoming a disclosure
A screenshot meant to ask a simple question may include a readable name, address, balance, and transaction history. Check those details before sharing it. Describe the interface or error in ordinary words when the extra information is not needed. Never paste a recovery phrase into a website that claims to check privacy.
A recovery phrase controls access to funds; it is not a diagnostic input. A privacy review should help you reduce unnecessary sharing. It should not create a new collection of sensitive records just to produce a reassuring result.
Understand privacy technology before trusting a label
A technical privacy claim needs a clear boundary. Ask what becomes hidden, who can still see it, and what information appears when the system is used. The phrase “private transaction” is not enough to answer those questions. A method can protect one fact while leaving the sender’s address or a visible interaction exposed.
A proof can hide a secret without hiding everything
A zero-knowledge proof can demonstrate a statement without revealing the secret used to support it. That does not mean every part of the surrounding application is private. The wallet, browser session, and way a proof is submitted still matter. Begin with our zero-knowledge explanation, then use the technology library to compare the questions different designs try to answer.
Use technical documentation to check a specific mechanism, rather than treating a broad privacy claim as a substitute for understanding how it works. The sources linked in each guide are a starting point for checking the explanation.
Price gives context, not proof of identity
A dollar value can help explain the size of an ETH amount. It cannot tell you who owns the address, whether those funds belong to one person, or why a transfer happened. Our timestamped ETH price page labels the quote’s source and freshness. A current quote should not be used as though it were the price at the time of an old transfer.
Choose one question to work through next
- New to public ledgers? Start with what an address reveals before choosing a privacy tool.
- Already using a wallet? Review data requests, app connections, and token permissions separately.
- Comparing technology? Write down the hidden fact and the remaining disclosure for each method.
Read the editorial policy for how these explanations are framed and checked. The aim is a decision you can explain in your own words, including what it cannot guarantee.
Privacy is a practice. Not a product promise.
Primary sources. Clear limitations. Explanations you can check for yourself.
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