Solana Foundation targets institutions with new privacy framework

The Solana Foundation is making a new pitch to large institutions: privacy as a customizable feature, not a trade-off.

In a report released on Monday by the foundation, “Privacy on Solana: A Full-Spectrum Approach for the Modern Enterprise,” the organization argued that the next phase of crypto adoption will depend less on transparency alone and more on giving companies control over what they reveal — and to whom.

The framing marks a shift from crypto’s early ethos. Public blockchains have traditionally emphasized openness, where transactions are visible and traceable, even if users are represented only by wallet addresses. The report acknowledged that this “pseudonymity” model, while foundational, falls short for many real-world use cases. Financial institutions, for example, may need to prove transactions occurred without exposing counterparties, while companies processing payroll must avoid broadcasting employee salaries.

Underlying the pitch is a technical claim: that Solana’s speed makes advanced privacy techniques practical. The team argued that the network’s high throughput and low latency allow these methods to run at near-web speeds, opening the door to use cases such as encrypted order books or private credit risk calculations.

But rather than offering a single solution for privacy, the foundation presented privacy as a spectrum composed of four distinct modes: pseudonymity, confidentiality, anonymity and fully private systems.

At the base level, pseudonymity keeps identities obscured behind wallet addresses while leaving transaction data visible. Moving along the spectrum, confidentiality allows participants to be known while encrypting sensitive information like balances and transfer amounts.

Anonymity flips that dynamic, hiding the identities of participants while allowing transaction data to remain visible. At the far end are fully private systems, where both identities and transaction data are shielded through techniques like zero-knowledge proofs and multiparty computation.

The message is that no single privacy model fits all. “For enterprises, privacy is a spectrum, not a switch,” the report said.

What Solana is trying to do is bring all of these privacy options into one system. Instead of choosing just one approach, companies can mix and match tools — like hiding transaction amounts, proving something is valid without revealing details, or controlling who can access certain data — depending on what they need.

In practice, that could mean executing trades without revealing order size, sharing risk data across banks without exposing individual balance sheets, or allowing users to prove compliance without disclosing personal information.

The report leans heavily on the idea that privacy and regulation can coexist. The team pointed to mechanisms like “auditor keys,” which enable designated parties to decrypt transactions when required. Other systems would allow wallets to demonstrate compliance status without revealing identity. These features are framed as a response to growing regulatory scrutiny, particularly around anti-money laundering rules and financial surveillance.

“Privacy is a market requirement,” the report said. “Customers expect it and applications require it. On Solana, you choose your privacy level, from encrypted balances to zero-knowledge anonymity to multiparty confidential computing. Each level maps to a compliance path, and each is composable with the broader ecosystem.”

Read more: Solana Foundation’s Liu: Focus on finance, not gaming ‘misadventures’