Fhenix, the trailblazing pioneer in confidential blockchain technology, announced today the successful completion of a $7 million seed round. This investment was led by Multicoin Capital and Collider Ventures, and saw participation from Node Capital, Bankless, HackVC, TaneLabs, Metaplanet, Robot Ventures (co-founded by Tarun Chitra and Robert Leshner), and other prominent backers. Fhenix plans to utilize the funds to propel the Fhenix Network onto the public testnet in early 2024, while also supporting the development of a robust ecosystem of applications.
Fhenix’s core innovation lies in its utilization of fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) to construct the world’s first confidential smart contract platform. FHE is a cutting-edge cryptographic technique that enables computations to be performed directly on encrypted data without ever disclosing the sensitive information itself. By integrating FHE into its blockchain, Fhenix aims to revolutionize the Ethereum ecosystem by introducing data encryption and encrypted data computation capabilities to smart contracts, transactions, and on-chain assets.
Addressing a Critical Gap
As mentioned above, Fhenix is the first confidential blockchain powered by fully homomorphic encryption. Through the usage of fhEVM, Fhenix enables Ethereum developers to seamlessly build encrypted smart contracts and perform encrypted computation of data, all while using Solidity and other familiar, easy-to-use tools. Fhenix was incubated in 2023 out of a private partnership between SCRT Labs and Zama.
Guy Zyskind, the founder of Fhenix and Secret, noted, “Fhenix addresses a huge problem in the Ethereum ecosystem: a lack of encryption for commercially sensitive data. Fhenix gives users the confidence to put sensitive data on public blockchains while also giving developers the tools to compute and transform that data for the first time. The acute need for data confidentiality is rapidly growing which is driving demand for innovative technologies like FHE and fostering collaborations between complementary blockchains such as Fhenix and Secret to ensure a more secure and privacy-centric future.”
Fhenix’s CEO, Guy Itzhaki, added, “By harnessing the power of FHE, we can solve one of the last remaining challenges in Web3, and allow users to not only own their data but also control who they share their data with. With Fhenix’s encrypted smart contracts, we can empower developers to use encrypted blockchain as an enabler for new business opportunities, including on chain trustless gaming, private voting for DAOs, on chain privacy-preserving AI, and much more.”
The Power Behind Fhenix: fhEVM
Fhenix relies on the fhEVM, a set of extensions for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which enables developers to seamlessly integrate FHE into their workflows and create encrypted smart contracts without requiring specialized cryptographic expertise. Developers can continue writing in Solidity, making it more accessible and practical for Ethereum developers.
This protocol was originally developed by Zama, a leading cryptography company specializing in open-source homomorphic encryption solutions for both blockchain and AI and was strategically integrated into the Fhenix Network. Fhenix was born out of a strategic partnership between Secret’s founder and Zama, a leading company in fully homomorphic encryption technologies. It is led by Guy Itzhaki, a former Director at the Homomorphic Encryption & Blockchain Division at Intel.
Rand Hindi, CEO of Zama, highlighted the potential impact, stating, “Having the ability to keep things private on-chain will go beyond solving privacy issues; it will pave the way for hundreds of new use cases—blind auctions, on-chain identity attestations and KYC, confidential real-world asset tokenization, private voting for DAOs and more. We are still discovering the full scope of what developers can do with data privacy as a primitive and exploring the full potential of FHE and its applications. Through this partnership, we expect to not only solve on-chain privacy but also spark a privacy revolution through encrypted blockchains. We believe that this is not only possible but in fact the only way forward.”
Making FHE Accessible
Fhenix had previously launched a private development network (devnet) in July 2023, offering a platform for developers to experiment with FHE technology. Early access applications are currently being accepted. The official public testnet, named “Renaissance,” is expected to debut in the first half of 2024. Renaissance will serve as a playground for blockchain developers, offering various testing and incentivized building campaigns. This initiative aims to attract top talent within the blockchain industry, fostering an ecosystem that propels the adoption of FHE technology across the blockchain landscape.
Kyle Samani, Managing Partner at Multicoin Capital, expressed his excitement about Fhenix’s approach, saying, “Similar to zero-knowledge proofs, FHE has always been a technology with a ton of promise; however, the challenge has always been how to bridge the requisite knowledge in hardcore cryptography and blockchain development. Fhenix radically simplifies that problem, and is making FHE accessible to Ethereum devs practically overnight.”
Overall, Fhenix is at the forefront of innovation in the blockchain space, pioneering the integration of fully homomorphic encryption to enable confidential smart contracts and secure data computation. As FHE technology becomes more accessible to Ethereum developers, the future holds great promise for a privacy-centric, blockchain-powered world. With the successful completion of this $7 million seed round, Fhenix is well-positioned to continue its mission of ushering in a new era of secure, confidential, and versatile blockchain applications.
