Motivation

Privacy -> FHE -> CoFHE -> Redact

Why Privacy?

Blockchains are excellent for ensuring transparency, security, and trust, but this transparency comes at a cost—everything is public. Every transaction, smart contract interaction, and account balance is openly visible, which isn’t ideal for use cases involving sensitive data like finance or healthcare.

On public blockchains like Ethereum, every transaction, smart contract interaction, and account balance is fully accessible to anyone. While this extreme transparency is key to building trust and enabling verification, it introduces serious privacy challenges. Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) addresses this tradeoff by allowing data to remain completely encrypted while still enabling the blockchain to verify its accuracy and authenticity. This means sensitive information can be processed and validated without ever being exposed, delivering the best of both worlds: robust privacy and trustless verification.

Why FHE?

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) is a groundbreaking cryptographic method that enables computations to be performed on encrypted data without ever decrypting it. Unlike traditional cryptographic techniques, which protect data only until it is actively used, FHE keeps the data encrypted even during processing, ensuring that sensitive information remains secure at every stage. This innovation prevents data leaks and represents a major advancement in privacy-preserving technology.

FHE works by allowing users to encrypt their data into ciphertext, after which the blockchain can perform computations directly on the encrypted data. The results of these computations remain encrypted and can only be decrypted by the authorized user. This ensures that data remains private throughout the entire process. By combining this level of privacy with the functionality of smart contracts, FHE enables logic to be executed securely on encrypted inputs while generating encrypted outputs. This means users retain complete control of their data without relying on trusted third parties, making FHE a transformative solution for privacy, security, and decentralized trust.

Why CoFHE?

CoFHE is the ideal solution for enabling privacy, scalability, and security in Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains by allowing smart contracts to process encrypted data without exposing sensitive information. It works off-chain for speed and scalability while maintaining compatibility with existing frameworks, requiring no chain migration and integrating effortlessly via a simple Solidity library. With features like asynchronous execution for cheaper transactions, comprehensive developer tools like Remix and Hardhat, and a decentralized, trustless design leveraging threshold key management and execution verifiability, CoFHE empowers developers to build confidential smart contracts that handle encrypted data securely, scale efficiently, and remain fully composable within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Why Redact?

Redact delivers true on-chain privacy to Ethereum and Arbitrum by encrypting all token balances and transaction payloads using fully homomorphic encryption. It enables confidential transfers while keeping your balances hidden, serving as the foundation for private DeFi. With Redact, there’s no more front-running or balance snooping—only you (and those you explicitly authorize) can view your holdings. To everyone else, transactions appear as standard EVM transfers, ensuring total confidentiality without compromising composability.

Despite its advanced privacy features, Redact functions like any other application. You can connect through MetaMask or any standard wallet and interact with familiar tools and dApps. Looking ahead, Redact will evolve into the gateway for a fully private DeFi ecosystem—offering lending, borrowing, swapping, and liquidity provision, all under complete privacy.