Zama, an start-source cryptography startup aiming to lift full privacy to public blockchains, has raised $57 million in Sequence B funding led by Pantera Capital and Blockchange Ventures. The spherical pushes Zama’s valuation over $1 billion, making it the first company working in superior encryption to hit unicorn plight.
Based in 2020, Zama seeks to lift privacy to public blockchains with out compromising transparency or auditability. Zama’s most up-to-date funding comes alongside the open of its public testnet and “confidential” blockchain protocol, which permits developers to fabricate encrypted clear contracts and decentralized functions.
“We are focusing on monetary functions, in particular payments,” Zama CEO Rand Hindi advised Decrypt. “It be clear from all our conversations with each stablecoin issuers and folks using stablecoins that they need confidentiality in on-chain payments.”
Whereas encryption is on the center of the blockchain alternate, homomorphic encryption permits customers to encrypt data that can then be processed with out decrypting it, making it likely to mission cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, or process payments on public blockchains with out revealing transaction info to the area.
Fully homomorphic encryption, or FHE, “helps you to recompute the enlighten using the encrypted data,” Hindi explained. “This means you like the identical level of public verifiability, but with out wanting to perceive the valid data, making [it] successfully the most exciting confidentiality technology that is each stable and publicly verifiable.”
Hindi talked about that Zama will open first on the Ethereum network in July sooner than bright to pretty pretty a pair of Ethereum Virtual Machine-enabled blockchains.
“We chose Ethereum as or now not it’s a ways the canonical chain where pretty a pair of the stablecoins are issued. So it’s a ways vivid to like the confidentiality layer there first,” he talked about. “Sharp from Ethereum to pretty pretty a pair of EVM chains will happen fairly suddenly, as or now not it’s a ways the identical stack.”
As for Solana, Hindi talked about Zama is focusing on a 2026 integration using a two-fold manner.
“First, we must adapt our technology to the SVM and like it audited, which takes time,” Hindi talked about. “2d, the expectation from Solana developers regarding efficiency is that they can attain hundreds, if now not thousands of transactions per 2d. After we’re in a position to toughen Solana speeds, we are going to open there.”
Unlike controversial privacy tools admire coin mixers, which like been targeted by governments and legislation enforcement, Hindi talked about Zama’s manner focuses on encrypted tell material whereas keeping the transaction itself visible.
“With Tornado Money, you invent the transaction untraceable, but the tell material is public,” he talked about. “FHE, on the pretty pretty a pair of hand, hides the on-chain data, now not the transaction attach. You would possibly presumably well presumably perceive who interacted with whom, but you would possibly presumably presumably’t perceive their balances, amounts, and loads others. This means you would possibly presumably well furthermore continuously attach support the transaction to a KYC’d wallet if wanted.”
A key feature in the protocol, Hindi explained, is what Zama calls “programmable confidentiality,” which offers developers regulate over who can decrypt on-chain data for the length of the clear contract.
“As an illustration, a stablecoin issuer would possibly presumably well furthermore enable a user to perceive their personal balance, but also a compliance officer,” Hindi talked about. “The Zama protocol generally doesn’t set in force the relaxation—it’s fully up to the developer to deem what compliance guidelines they ought to be conscious.”
This level of operability, Hindi talked about, is the final share wanted for frequent adoption of blockchain technology.
“The mission frail to be efficiency, but Solana and layer-2 networks like solved this. Now that confidentiality also shall be solved, it arrangement we are in a position to start constructing the entire monetary functions on-chain, with out having to distress about tempo or privacy—each of that are needed when you wish must scale to things admire global retail payments,” he talked about.
After years of working in cryptography, Hindi talked about Zama achieving unicorn plight felt long overdue.
“Honestly, it feels substantial to perceive wonderful traders and builders now care about confidentiality. It be a fight I have been combating for over a decade,” he talked about.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
