Nicolas Consigny is a French software developer and privacy researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. He is known for leading the development of Project Kohaku, an on-chain privacy framework, and for his prior role as a core contributor and coordinator for the Railgun DAO privacy protocol. ^{[1] [2]} His work focuses on integrating privacy-preserving technologies into the core Ethereum ecosystem to enhance user security and confidentiality. ^[3]​

Career

Early Work and Railgun DAO

Prior to his formal role at the Ethereum Foundation, Consigny was a central figure in the RAILGUN DAO, where he served as a core contributor and coordinator. ^{[3] [1]} RAILGUN is a decentralized privacy protocol built on Ethereum and other Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible blockchains. Its system of smart contracts uses zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to allow users to conduct private transactions and interact with decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. This technology works by obfuscating transaction details, including the sender, receiver, and amount, from public view on the blockchain. ^{[3] [1]}​

In his capacity as a coordinator and spokesperson, Consigny's responsibilities involved organizing development efforts, communicating the protocol's strategic direction, and liaising with the broader Ethereum community. ^[3]​

The Railgun project received widespread attention in April 2024 after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin made a privacy-shielded ETH transfer using the protocol. Buterin followed this by publicly posting about the importance of such tools, calling privacy a "first-class priority for Ethereum." ^[2] This endorsement brought increased visibility to the project. Speaking to The Defiant at the time, Consigny commented that Buterin's action was "organic and unsolicited" and served as the "strongest possible signal" for the necessity of on-chain privacy. He added that the event "validates our entire thesis" about the critical need for robust privacy solutions on public blockchains. ^[2]​

Ethereum Foundation

Consigny's work transitioned to a more embedded role within the Ethereum ecosystem upon joining the Ethereum Foundation. His publicly identified roles have included Developer Coordinator and, subsequently, a developer and researcher focused specifically on privacy. ^{[4] [1]}​

Developer Coordinator

By mid-2024, Consigny held the position of Developer Coordinator, where he was involved in the organizational and communication aspects of Ethereum's protocol development. In a July 2024 interview on the "Big Talk" podcast, he provided a comprehensive overview of Ethereum's technical roadmap and strategic challenges. He discussed the mechanics and implications of restaking protocols, the ongoing work to lower network transaction fees, the development status of sharding, and the long-term architectural vision proposed by Vitalik Buterin known as "The Endgame." He also addressed competitive dynamics in the blockchain space, such as the "Battle of Layer 1s" and the concept of Layer 2s on Bitcoin, while maintaining that Ethereum's Layer 2 solutions do not drain value from the main chain. ^[4]​

Privacy Researcher and Developer

In late 2025, his role became more specialized as a member of the Ethereum Foundation's privacy team (@EF_Privacy). His work is part of a newly formalized initiative within the foundation, the "Privacy Cluster," which was announced on October 8, 2025. This group, composed of 47 engineers, researchers, and cryptographers, was established to work in conjunction with the existing Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) team to accelerate the development and integration of privacy-enhancing technologies across the Ethereum protocol. His leadership on Project Kohaku is a central part of this mandate. ^[1]​

Major Projects

Project Kohaku

As of October 2025, Consigny is the lead developer of Project Kohaku, an on-chain privacy framework, browser extension wallet, and Software Development Kit (SDK) developed within the Ethereum Foundation. The project is a direct collaboration with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. ^{[1] [5]}​

Announcement and Mission

Project Kohaku was formally announced on October 9, 2025, via a post on X (formerly Twitter). In a joint statement, Consigny and Vitalik Buterin were presented as "the faces of Kohaku." Consigny articulated the project's core mission with the statement: "It’s time for us to go public so you all can go private, and it’s time for us to be bold so you all can be safe." ^[5]​

The project's guiding principle, as articulated by Consigny, is to enforce transactional minimalism to enhance user safety. He stated: "Kohaku aims to ensure that each party to a transaction has knowledge only of what is directly necessary for that transaction and is exposed to the absolute minimum set of risks necessary for that transaction to happen.” This philosophy is detailed in the project's official roadmap paper, which Consigny authored. ^{[1] [2]}​

Goals and Features

The Kohaku roadmap outlines a three-pronged strategy to integrate privacy into the Ethereum user experience. The project is designed not just as a standalone tool but as a foundational layer for the broader developer ecosystem. The primary objectives are: ^[2]​

1. Create an SDK: Produce a robust Software Development Kit that provides application developers with a set of accessible, strong privacy and security primitives.
2. Develop a Reference Wallet: Build a feature-rich, power-user-oriented wallet that serves as a reference implementation to demonstrate the full capabilities of the SDK.
3. Drive Ecosystem Adoption: Actively collaborate with existing wallet teams and decentralized applications to encourage the integration of the Kohaku SDK.

Initial development priorities for the toolkit focus on practical privacy features for everyday users. These include primitives for private sending and receiving of assets, advanced social recovery mechanisms using zero-knowledge tools like ZKemail and ZKpassport, and optional peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction pathways that bypass centralized Remote Procedure Call (RPC) nodes. In a nod to his previous work, the Railgun DAO is listed as a collaborator on the Kohaku initiative. ^[2]​

Public Launch

The official public debut of Project Kohaku was scheduled for November 2025. This includes the unveiling of the wallet, a public demonstration, and the release of the SDK for testing. The launch is centered around Devcon 2025 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Consigny is scheduled to present a live demonstration of the Kohaku toolkit's features at the co-located Devconnect ARG developer conference, which is taking place from November 17-22, 2025. ^{[1] [2]}​

Technical Contributions and Views

Protocol Coordination and Development

Consigny's role as a coordinator within the Ethereum ecosystem is substantiated by his active contributions on GitHub. He participates in the ethereum/pm repository, which houses the agendas and meeting notes for Ethereum's All Core Developers and Consensus Layer calls. This activity points to his involvement in the core organizational and project management processes that guide Ethereum's ongoing development. ^[3]​

His work also extends to the protocol standardization process. He actively manages forks of the Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) and Rollup Improvement Proposals (RIPs) repositories, which are crucial for vetting, discussing, and formalizing changes to the Ethereum protocol and its growing Layer 2 ecosystem. ^[3]​

Beyond coordination, Consigny makes direct technical contributions. On November 6, 2025, he opened a pull request in the ethereum/forkcast repository to add EIP-8052, demonstrating participation in the protocol upgrade pipeline. His work also shows a direct link between his Ethereum Foundation role and his privacy-focused projects. For instance, on November 3, 2025, he reviewed a pull request in the ethereum/kohaku repository that introduced Railgun tests, illustrating a technical integration between the two privacy initiatives. His GitHub profile also indicates memberships or contributions to several other organizations in the blockchain space, including , , , and . ^[3]​

Advocacy for On-Chain Privacy

Across his different roles, Consigny has been a consistent advocate for robust privacy on public blockchains. He posits that privacy is not a niche feature but a fundamental necessity for user safety, commercial confidentiality, and the overall maturation of cryptocurrency for mainstream adoption. ^[2]​

In public commentary, he distinguishes between privacy and secrecy, arguing that the goal of on-chain privacy is not to enable illicit activity but to establish basic human and commercial rights in an otherwise fully transparent digital world. He frames privacy as a necessary component for Ethereum to achieve its goal of becoming a global settlement layer suitable for a wide variety of real-world applications. This viewpoint is evident in his mission statement for Project Kohaku and his public commentary on the importance of protocols like Railgun. ^[5]​

Public Appearances

The Big Whale Podcast (July 2024)

In July 2024, Consigny appeared on the "Big Talk" podcast by The Big Whale to discuss the future of Ethereum. Acting in his capacity as a Developer Coordinator for the Ethereum Foundation, he elaborated on the technical roadmap, the role of the foundation, and the network's position in the broader market. Topics included: ^[4]​

• Ethereum's continued role as an innovation driver.
• The development status of sharding and the schedule for reducing transaction fees.
• The promises and potential issues of restaking.
• Strategies for democratizing network participation, including the topic of solo validation.
• The Ethereum Foundation's financial allocation and spending.

This interview provided a detailed look at his understanding of the Ethereum ecosystem before the public announcement of Project Kohaku.

Devcon 2025 and Devconnect ARG

Consigny is scheduled to present on Project Kohaku at Devcon 2025 and the accompanying Devconnect conference in Buenos Aires in November 2025. The presentation is expected to include a live demonstration of the Kohaku wallet and an overview of its SDK for developers, marking the project's official public debut. ^{[1] [2]}​