zama/fhe-concepts
Zama FHE — Concepts & Overview
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v1.0.0·Updated 4/5/2026
Use this as a general reference for Zama's company background, product lineup, ecosystem, and key links. For deeper technical usage, see the specialized skills:
zama/fhevm-dev-guide— Solidity confidential contract developmentzama/gateway-decrypt— Relayer SDK (frontend) + Hardhat testingzama/tfhe-rs-lib— TFHE-rs Rust library
What is Zama?
Zama is a cryptography company founded in January 2020 by Rand Hindi (CEO) and Dr. Pascal Paillier (CTO, inventor of the Paillier cryptosystem). Their mission: make Fully Homomorphic Encryption practical for real-world applications.
FHE in one sentence: Compute on encrypted data without ever decrypting it.
Enc(a) + Enc(b) = Enc(a + b) // addition homomorphism
Enc(a) × Enc(b) = Enc(a × b) // multiplication homomorphism
Zama uses the TFHE (Torus FHE) scheme — optimized for low-latency gate-level operations with fast bootstrapping (noise refresh).
Key milestones:
- 2020-01: Founded by Rand Hindi & Pascal Paillier
- 2022-01: Strategic partnership with Protocol Labs
- 2023-09: fhEVM Alpha released (first FHE-based private smart contract protocol)
- 2024-03: Series A $73M (Multicoin Capital, Protocol Labs, Gavin Wood, Anatoly Yakovenko)
- 2025-06: Series B $57M → first FHE unicorn ($1B+ valuation)
- 2025-07: Public testnet live
- 2025-09: ERC-7984 standard co-authored with OpenZeppelin
- 2025-11: Acquired KKRT Labs (Kakarot ZK)
- 2025-12: Mainnet live on Ethereum
- 2026-02: $ZAMA listed on Binance
Product Lineup
| Product | Language | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| TFHE-rs | Rust | Core FHE library — low-level encrypted integer operations |
| fhEVM | Solidity | Confidential smart contracts on Ethereum EVM |
| Concrete | Python | Compile Python programs → FHE circuits |
| Concrete ML | Python | Privacy-preserving machine learning |
| TKMS | — | Threshold Key Management System — MPC-based decryption authority |
Ecosystem Projects
| Project | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Fhenix | L2 Rollup | FHE-based L2 using TFHE-rs, deployed CoFHE coprocessor on Arbitrum |
| Inco Network | Modular Chain | Confidentiality-as-a-Service for existing L1/L2 chains |
| Bron Wallet | Wallet | Self-custodial MPC wallet with native ERC-7984 support |
| Raycash | Payments | Self-custodial bank using confidential stablecoins |
| TokenOps | DeFi | Confidential vesting and airdrop tooling |
| Suffragium | Governance | On-chain encrypted voting system |
| Shiba Inu / Shibarium | Other | Using fhEVM for their network-state infrastructure |
Key Links
- Docs: https://docs.zama.ai
- Protocol Litepaper: https://docs.zama.org/protocol
- GitHub: https://github.com/zama-ai
- fhEVM contracts: https://github.com/zama-ai/fhevm-contracts
- TFHE-rs: https://github.com/zama-ai/tfhe-rs
- Community Forum: https://community.zama.ai
- Developer Program: https://www.zama.org/developer-program (monthly $10K prize pool)