Privacy is as fundamental to web3 infrastructure as decentralization. In fact, each is impossible without the other. As web3 communities increasingly come under attack from powerful corporations and nation states alike, privacy is our primary insurance policy against intimidation and censorship. RPCh contributes to a more resilient web3 by providing access to privacy infrastructure for Ethereum users that is useful TODAY. But it needs support to grow further.

Most research and development in the Ethereum ecosystem is focussed on improving scalability and security as well as usability of direct on-chain technologies. While this is indeed crucial to building billion-user dapps, the underlying peer-to-peer network infrastructure cannot be neglected. It presents privacy challenges that are so far entirely unsolved on all interfaces: between nodes (both consensus and execution layers), wallets, service providers, users and middleware infrastructure.

The HOPR mixnet brings privacy to all layers of Ethereum and tackles the most immediate user-facing privacy concern first: to provide privacy for Ethereum users by preventing RPC providers from harvesting user data. RPC-over-HOPR (RPCh) routes RPC requests and responses through a decentralized network of nodes that provide privacy for users and prevents their IP addresses from being exposed to the RPC provider. This solution is web3-native and provides a much more credibly neutral privacy solution than today’s commercial VPNs or even Tor.