Optimism Bills 'Privacy Boost' as Turning Point for Enterprises on Ethereum

In brief

• OP Labs debuted a privacy offering that it says is expected to expand to additional blockchains in the coming weeks.
• The technology, dubbed Privacy Boost, supports self-custody while enabling enterprises to build auditable environments that work with Know Your Customer rules.
• The hope is that enterprises use the technology to build real-world applications, while incumbents are flocking to competitors like Canton.

OP Labs debuted a privacy offering on Tuesday that’s aimed at bringing more enterprises to Ethereum’s ecosystem, starting with the OP Mainnet, the layer-2 scaling network it created.

The network formerly called Optimism now supports “Privacy Boost,” OP Labs said in an announcement, describing the product as technology that enables private transfers and discreet interactions with decentralized finance applications—while supporting regulatory needs.

Privacy Boost functions as a software development kit and interface allowing software programs to communicate and share data, also known as an API, OP Labs said. The hope is that enterprises use the technology to build real-world applications, the firm added. Additional networks are slated for an expansion of Privacy Boost in the coming weeks, it said.

Renewed interest in digital assets like Zcash may underscore how privacy has returned to vogue within the cryptosphere. Still, for many traditional firms eager to experiment on-chain, the notion that transaction amounts, counterparties, and balances are fully public has always been unworkable, OP Labs co-founder and CTO Karl Floersch told Decrypt.

“We were talking to a payments provider about their public-chain vision, and ultimately, compliance killed their architecture,” he said. “We can’t bring a bunch of these institutions on-chain until we have a very clear-cut solution for privacy.”

In the announcement, OP Labs said its goal is to create a privacy layer that any protocol can plug into, signaling that its ambitions extend beyond its associated network, which already supports leading DeFi applications like lending protocol Aave.