Vitalik Buterin advocates for pluralistic digital IDs with a focus on privacy

• Vitalik Buterin supports digital identity with ZK proofs
• Pluralistic IDs protect privacy from coercion
• Digital IDs with ZK do not guarantee full pseudonymity

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has once again addressed the challenges and paths to preserving privacy in digital identity systems. In a post recent , he stated that the most viable model currently is that of pluralistic identities with zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs), as it balances privacy and functionality at scale.

Solutions like World ID, which use biometric data and ZK proofs, have already surpassed 10 million users. These systems promise to attest that the user has a valid ID without revealing their personal information. However, Buterin warned that even these approaches still have flaws, especially when it comes to preserving pseudonymity.

According to him, digital IDs limited to “one per person” end up centralizing user activities under a single identity. This goes against the computer security principle of “least privilege,” where each process should only have access to the minimum necessary information. As an example, he mentions that, when proving age, the system should not have access to other data on the document.

Furthermore, he highlighted that the single identity model can be vulnerable to coercion, as in the case of companies or governments requiring users to reveal their identity on specific platforms. There are also technical and social risks, such as failures in biometric recognition or exclusion of people without formal documents.

For Buterin, the most effective solution is pluralistic identity systems, which are not based on a single issuing authority. In this model, users can use multiple forms of identity — such as social media profiles or government documents — to validate themselves in different contexts.

This type of system, he says, is naturally more tolerant of errors and deletions, and allows for multiple pseudonyms to preserve the separation between different spheres of digital life. Still, he warns that if a single form of ID dominates the market, the whole concept of pluralism is lost, leading back to a centralized model.