How to go private, decentralised and open source in 2026 — just like Vitalik Buterin

In 2025, privacy came full circle.

What was once decried as a key tool for financial criminals has suddenly become a core tenet of the crypto space — thanks to some rather unexpected proponents.

As larger institutions pour into the crypto space, the idea of public ledgers of every client’s transactions is an untenable product offering.

Privacy, according to Paul Brody, the global blockchain leader at consulting giant Ernst & Young, is the next key catalyst for industry growth.

“Large companies don’t want to disclose the details and the nature of their business relationship,” Brody told DL News in August.

“Without privacy, it’s very easy to reverse engineer who’s buying what, from whom and how much they’re spending. That’s considered very sensitive, non-public information.”

The only question left is where to start.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, however, offered some guidance back in November.

That’s when, during the Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress in Buenos Aires, Buterin shared a list of some of his top privacy tools.

The list also includes products and applications that prioritise decentralisation and open source.

More importantly, anyone can start using them in the new year.

Here are some of Buterin’s top apps for staying private, decentralised and open source in 2026.

Operating System: Graphene OS

Graphene OS is a privacy- and security-centric operating system built on the standard Android platform used in many of Google’s products.

For privacy-focused users, it also has several key advantages.

It’s primarily optimised to prevent data leaks among users by removing almost any components that may collect or transmit sensitive information without the user’s approval.

One way it achieves this is through a sandboxed version of popular Android apps like Maps and Gmail. Unlike traditional Android applications, these versions of popular apps operate in an isolated environment that prevents exposure to sensitive data.

The user can, of course, allow the apps to access that data, but the control is in their hands.

It also offers a custom-hardened, open-source kernel available for public audits, as well as letting users decide which networks and sensors to use — and for how long — in each application. Finally, the data within the system is encrypted at all times.

Private Wallet: Railway

Railway is the go-to wallet for decentralised finance users seeking a private alternative to their hot crypto wallet.

The wallet leverages zero-knowledge technology. This allows users to hide the nature of their swaps and even yield-farming activity while interacting with a host of different blockchains, including Polygon, Ethereum, and BNB Smart Chain.

Messenger: Signal

While much of the crypto industry interacts on Telegram, Signal has emerged as a compelling alternative for privacy-seekers.

The messaging app uses end-to-end encryption by default, keeping all chats and calls private except for the people involved. It’s built atop the Signal Protocol, an open-source system that has experienced extensive peer review by cryptographers.

Unlike many other companies behind popular messaging apps, the Signal Foundation is a non-profit that has engineered its servers to collect as little metadata about its users as possible to function.

“Encrypted messaging, like Signal App, is critical for preserving our digital privacy,” Buterin wrote in November.

Public Wallet: Rabby

The Rabby crypto wallet isn’t necessarily optimised for privacy compared to other wallets.

And with the upcoming privacy software development kit that the Ethereum Foundation is developing, called Kohaku Wallet SDK, all wallet providers will offer key privacy features by default.

On October 8, the Ethereum Foundation announced an expanded effort to embed privacy into the blockchain, led by a new “Privacy Cluster” team of 47 engineers, researchers, and cryptographers.

“Privacy is the freedom to choose what you share, when you share it, and who you share it with,” the foundation said. “It’s essential for dignity, security, and digital trust.”

Documents: dDocs

Instead of relying on Google for document-sharing services, Fileverse launched dDocs in August 2024.

The product offers a decentralised alternative to Google Docs, which also uses end-to-end encryption and stores drafts on peer-to-peer networks, such as the InterPlanetary File System and the Graph Universe Node.

What’s more, the service feels almost identical to using Google Docs.

Privacy in 2026

As privacy considerations took centre stage in 2025, next year, the development trajectory suggests it will become the default feature in 2026.

This time, though, the momentum is joined by Wall Street institutions rather than cypherpunks of yore.

Liam Kelly is DL News’ Berlin-based DeFi correspondent. Have a tip? Get in touch at [email protected].