Latest news with #FullyHomomorphicEncryption
Business Insider
25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Zama Raises $57M in Series B to Bring End-to-End Encryption to Public Blockchains
Paris, Zug, France/Switzerland, June 25th, 2025, Chainwire Zama Raises $57M in Series B to Bring End-to-End Encryption to Public Blockchains With new backing by leading U.S. blockchain investors, Zama becomes the world's first Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) unicorn. Funding coincides with the announcement of the Zama Protocol, which enables confidential applications on any blockchain. From July 2025, developers can start building FHE applications on Zama's public testnet. Zama, the open-source cryptography company building state-of-the-art Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) solutions for blockchain, announced a $57 million Series B funding round co-led by U.S.-based investment firms Blockchange Ventures and Pantera Capital, bringing Zama's total funding to over $150 million, and its valuation to north of a billion USD. The new funding will support Zama's mainnet launch, ecosystem adoption, and research efforts to make financial applications built with FHE scale to thousands of transactions per second. The timing of Zama's announcement reflects the accelerating demand within the finance ecosystem for technologies that enable confidential, scalable, and compliant onchain financial applications. 'With this latest raise, Zama becomes the world's first unicorn in the FHE space, which is a major milestone for the industry. Reaching a $1 billion valuation represents a significant increase that reflects the market's confidence in our FHE technology and our team's ability to deliver confidentiality to financial applications onchain' said Dr Rand Hindi, CEO and co-founder of Zama. The funding coincides with the announcement of Zama's Confidential Blockchain Protocol and its public testnet in July 2025, enabling developers to build confidential applications through Zama's FHEVM, with support for other EVM chains and Solana to follow. Ken Seiff, Co-Managing Partner of Blockchange Ventures, said: 'Not since I first saw Ethereum in 2014, have I seen a company commercializing an entirely new technology that could be as foundational to our global technology infrastructure. As finance moves onchain and regulations tighten globally, public blockchains are likely to be the first beneficiaries of what Zama is building. But the opportunity goes well beyond that, as industries such as health care, defense, and virtually all others that use cloud computing could massively benefit from the stepchange in confidentiality and compliance pioneered by FHE, and in particular, Zama.' "Zama's FHE protocol launch is a cryptography milestone. By enabling efficient, developer-friendly FHE, Zama unlocks secure, compliant, and verifiable dApps for AI, crypto, and cloud,' said Paul Veradittakit, Managing Partner at Pantera. 'The protocol paves the way for onchain identity, financial, and consumer applications—previously out of reach for developers." Zama's FHEVM makes it possible to run confidential smart contracts on encrypted data, guaranteeing both confidentiality and composability. Blockchain-native confidentiality unlocks several use cases: Onchain Finance: Zama enables financial institutions to securely use public blockchains for a range of applications, including confidential stablecoin issuance and payments, asset tokenization, compliance, and more. Confidential Tokens: The ability to keep balances and amounts encrypted onchain enables blockchain companies to distribute tokens confidentially. Investors, team members and other token holders no longer have to publicly disclose their ownership, allowing them to better manage their portfolio and reduce the risk of being targeted by hackers. Identity and Proof of Humanity: The ability to distinguish between humans and AI in onchain applications is essential to the security of onchain finance. With the Zama Protocol, application developers can verify whether a user is human, without disclosing their identity publicly. Network States: Zama enables onchain communities and network states to operate confidentially. From currency to identity, governance and registries, it now becomes feasible to run key infrastructure on public blockchains. Zama will use the fresh funding to advance the field of FHE and further commercialize its accessibility to blockchain applications and beyond. Zama is actively addressing the core challenges that have historically held back FHE adoption: Speed: At current benchmarks, Zama's FHE technology is 100x faster than when the company was founded, and is now capable of supporting most onchain payment use cases. Zama is expecting its technology to be 100x more scalable within the next five years, allowing it to address the most demanding onchain applications. Hardware integration: Using GPUs enables Zama to scale to hundreds of transactions per second. Zama is working towards a dedicated hardware-accelerated chip to advance FHE performance, with the ultimate goal of reaching tens of thousands of transactions per second. Developer usability: Using Zama doesn't require learning new programming languages. Instead, developers can use Solidity and other existing languages, and deploy their applications on their preferred chain. 'This round also underscores a broader shift: confidentiality is no longer a niche concern—it's a foundational requirement. The broad adoption of blockchain in finance is driving demand for secure, confidential computing technologies,' said Hindi. About Zama Zama is an open-source cryptography company building state-of-the-art FHE solutions for blockchain. Its technology enables a broad range of use cases, from confidential finance to Web3 and network states. Zama was founded by Dr. Pascal Paillier and Dr. Rand Hindi, and has the largest research team in homomorphic encryption. Zama
Time of India
16-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Cryptocurrency Live News & Updates : The Smarter Web Company Secures $37.1 Million for Bitcoin
17 Jun 2025 | 03:05:12 AM IST Bitcoin climbed 3.1% to $108,600, approaching its all-time high, driven by positive news from JPMorgan and the upcoming launch of Purpose's ETF, while XRP also saw gains. Bitcoin's recent surge to $108,600, a 3.1% increase, is attributed to favorable developments in the crypto space, including JPMorgan's trademark application for a digital asset platform and Purpose's upcoming XRP ETF launch. Meanwhile, traditional markets showed renewed risk appetite, with notable gains in crypto stocks like Coinbase and Circle. Optalysys, a UK startup, introduced a blockchain server utilizing Fully Homomorphic Encryption, promising more efficient and secure processing of encrypted data. H100 Group is also making headlines, targeting a $79 million raise to bolster its bitcoin strategy, with Blockstream CEO Adam Back already contributing $15 million. Lastly, JPMorgan's deeper foray into digital assets reflects a significant shift in Wall Street's attitude towards cryptocurrencies, as the bank prepares to offer various digital asset services. Collectively, these developments highlight a growing institutional interest in the crypto market, setting the stage for potential future growth. Show more
Economic Times
16-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Cryptocurrency Live News & Updates : Optalysys Launches Innovative Blockchain Server
17 Jun 2025 | 01:55:10 AM IST Optalysys has unveiled a groundbreaking server for blockchains that processes data securely without decryption, using 40% less energy than traditional GPU systems. In recent developments, Optalysys has introduced the LightLocker node, touted as the world's first server designed for blockchain applications that utilizes Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). This innovation promises to enhance secure computing while significantly reducing energy consumption. Meanwhile, H100 Group is making strides in the cryptocurrency space, aiming to raise up to $79 million to bolster its bitcoin investment strategy, with Blockstream CEO Adam Back already contributing $15 million. In a notable shift, JPMorgan Chase has filed a trademark for its crypto platform, JPMD, indicating a deeper commitment to digital assets, despite CEO Jamie Dimon's previous skepticism. Additionally, Binance is actively engaging its community with the launch of its 24th Exclusive Token Generation Event featuring Bombie (BOMB) and a new two-phase claiming system for its Alpha Airdrops, set to begin on June 19, 2025. These developments reflect a growing trend of traditional finance embracing cryptocurrency, while innovative startups continue to push the boundaries of blockchain technology. Show more
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CryptoLab to Participate in RSAC 2025, the World's Largest Cybersecurity Conference "Unveiling Encrypted Facial Recognition (EFR)"
Enables facial data processing in an encrypted state, powered by EFR's core homomorphic encryption technology, CKKS. A cutting-edge security solution designed to withstand quantum computing, utilizing a cryptographic algorithm in the same family as the quantum-resistant encryption selected by the U.S. NIST. SEOUL, South Korea, April 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CryptoLab, a cybersecurity company specializing in next-generation homomorphic encryption led by CEO Jung Hee Cheon announced on April 24 that it will unveil its Encrypted Facial Recognition (EFR) solution for the first time at RSA Conference 2025. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the RSA Conference 2025 (RSAC) is the world's largest cybersecurity conference, attracting over 45,000 participants. At this event, CryptoLab will showcase its EFR solution, which is based on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) technology and aims to overcome the security limitations of conventional facial recognition systems. Facial recognition technology is rapidly expanding across various sectors, including payment systems, access control, and smart cities. It is also being adopted at major international airports such as those in the U.S. (Denver), Incheon, and, Abu Dhabi. As the global trend shifts toward contactless, biometric-based automated boarding systems, facial recognition is increasingly becoming a critical component. However, as facial recognition becomes more widespread, concerns over the leakage of personal biometric data are also growing. In fact, the "facial templates" stored in these systems — numerical representations of users' unique biometric data — have been shown in studies to be capable of reconstructing original face images if leaked. This poses serious security risks, including identity theft and impersonation. CryptoLab's EFR solution presents a groundbreaking approach to these concerns. Not only does the EFR solution store facial templates in encrypted form, but it was also designed to perform the matching process in an encrypted state. This means that facial data remains encrypted throughout the entire processing workflow and is never decrypted at any point. The key technology of EFR is the 4th-generation FHE algorithm, CKKS. CKKS is a lattice-based cryptographic scheme and belongs to the same family as ML-KEM and ML-DSA, quantum-resistant encryption algorithms selected by NIST (U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology). This positions EFR as a next-generation security solution designed to withstand not only current threats but also those posed by future quantum computing. Thanks to GPU acceleration, the system can process tens of millions of facial templates in real-time, within milliseconds, and can scale linearly with demand, making it adaptable to a variety of enterprise environments. Its accuracy is comparable to that of plaintext-based facial recognition systems, setting a new standard in secure facial recognition technology. CryptoLab's EFR solution will be offered under a commercial license for enterprises and developers. More details can be found on the official EFR website: #Introduction of CryptoLab CryptoLab is a startup founded in 2017 by Professor Jung Hee Cheon of the Demartment of Mathematical science. The company has developed core technology in post-quantum cryptography (PQC) which is secure against quantum computers and fully homomorphic encryption which enables computation on encrypted data (CKKS). CEO Jung Hee Cheon is the inventor of CKKS which is the latest 4th generation homomorphic encryption algorithm and is a globally renowned expert in the field. The company's Chief Scientist, Damien Stehlé, is one of the authors of the CRYSTALS-Kyber and CRYSTALS-Dililthium algorithms, which have been selected as US NIST PQC Standards. CryptoLab is manned by a team of world-class experts in both FHE and PQC. Recently, two of CryptoLab's algorithms, HAETAE and SMAUG-T, were selected as finalists in Korea's national PQC competition. In 2022, CryptoLab secured approximately 21 billion KRW in investment from Altos Ventures, Stonebridge Ventures, and Kiwoom Investment, affirming its technological leadership. In the same year, it was recognized as a leading company in homomorphic encryption by Gartner. CryptoLab is driving a paradigm shift in data security through close collaboration with major domestic and international enterprises. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE CryptoLab Sign in to access your portfolio
Techday NZ
24-04-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Lattica secures $3.25 million to boost private AI with FHE
Lattica has announced its emergence from stealth mode and raised $3.25 million in pre-seed funding to bring Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to cloud-based artificial intelligence applications. The funding round was led by Cyber Fund, the investment firm of Managing Partner Konstantin Lomashuk, with additional participation from angel investor Sandeep Nailwal, who is a co-founder of both Polygon Network and Sentient: The Open AGI Foundation. Lattica's technology aims to address persistent privacy and security challenges in sectors such as healthcare, finance, and government, where organisations are hesitant to adopt AI over concerns about sensitive data exposure. Referencing the Cisco 2025 AI Briefing: CEO Edition, the company highlighted that 70% of surveyed CEOs are worried about their network security due to increasing AI use, and 34% see security as a major obstacle to AI adoption. FHE, which allows encrypted data to be queried by AI models without decryption, has long been considered a desired goal in cryptography, but has until now suffered from computational inefficiencies. Lattica claims it has managed to operationalise FHE by leveraging the latest advancements in the AI acceleration stack, making use of acceleration techniques that improve FHE's commercial viability. Dr. Rotem Tsabary, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Lattica, holds a PhD in lattice-based cryptography from the Weizmann Institute of Science and leads a team focused on the mathematical similarities between FHE and machine learning to build a cloud-based, hardware-agnostic platform for private AI computation. Central to Lattica's solution is the Homomorphic Encryption Abstraction Layer (HEAL), a cloud-based service designed to enhance FHE's performance and streamline its adoption. HEAL operates as an interface connecting FHE-equipped applications with a variety of computing hardware, including GPUs, TPUs, CPUs, and purpose-built accelerators such as ASICs and FPGAs. "By combining the advancements of hardware acceleration with software-based optimisation, we realised that not only could we improve FHE efficiency to the point of commercial viability, but use it to solve critical data dilemmas holding back AI's adoption in sensitive industries," said Dr. Rotem Tsabary, founder and CEO of Lattica. "We're enabling practical FHE by developing a solution that is tailor made for neural networks." In conjunction with its debut, Lattica has posted demonstration versions of its platform and shared the results of an in-depth survey conducted within the FHE community. According to these findings, 71% of participants believe FHE adoption will likely depend on a hybrid approach consisting of both hardware and software innovations. Konstantin Lomashuk, Managing Partner at Cyber Fund, commented, "Lattica is pushing the boundaries of Fully Homomorphic Encryption, solving one of the most critical challenges in AI security. Cyber Fund is proud to have led Lattica's pre-seed round. This is the kind of deep-tech innovation that defines the future, and we're excited to see Lattica leading the way." The healthcare and finance industries are specific targets for Lattica, given the demand for secure, cloud-based AI applications that can process medical and financial data without exposing such information to providers or third-party platforms. The company sees use cases in encrypted financial transactions and secure data analysis for medical research. Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon Network and investor in Lattica, said, "Lattica's product-first approach fundamentally transforms sensitive data processing in the AI ecosystem. Lattica has made FHE a reality that is both practical and scalable, as Tsabary and her research team is proving that advances in the machine learning stack can significantly boost the performance of FHE and have an immediate impact on the market."
