In a recent discussion, Vitalik Buterin emphasized the limitations of ZK-proofs for achieving true privacy protection. According to c-node’s post, technologies like MPC, tFHE, and TEEs offer alternative solutions that can provide greater privacy compared to zero-knowledge proofs, but with slightly weaker privacy strength. For applications such as payments, transfers, and voting, Buterin suggests prioritizing the use of pure ZK for enhanced security. However, he acknowledges that ZK alone cannot guarantee resistance against coercion in scenarios like voting. Buterin proposes a layered architecture combining ZK with trusted parties, MPC, FHE, or TEEs to achieve this feature. He argues that such an approach can enhance overall system security, ensuring the preservation of privacy attributes even if one component, such as FHE, is compromised. This layered approach might apply broadly across cryptographic applications beyond zero-knowledge proofs.