The Application and Potential of Fully Homomorphic Encryption Technology in the Blockchain Field

Cryptographic technology is crucial to the advancement of human civilization, especially in the areas of information security and privacy protection. Among them, asymmetric encryption and hash functions were creatively combined by Satoshi Nakamoto to design the proof-of-work mechanism of Bitcoin, which pioneered the blockchain industry.

With the development of Blockchain technology, some advanced cryptographic techniques are gradually emerging, such as zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, and fully homomorphic encryption. Fully homomorphic encryption ( FHE ), as an important breakthrough in cryptography, allows arbitrary computation on encrypted data without decryption, bringing new possibilities to various fields.

The core of FHE lies in allowing computations on ciphertext, and these operations can be mapped to plaintext. Compared to partial homomorphic encryption and some homomorphic encryption, FHE supports unlimited computations on encrypted data. Microsoft and Zama have excelled in the field of FHE with their open-source products.

Applying FHE on the Blockchain ideally involves encapsulating it as a general-purpose smart contract code library. However, this requires the virtual machine to support a specific instruction set. EVM has become the preferred choice, and Zama has launched the fhEVM that supports privacy computing implemented in Solidity.

As a pioneer, Fhenix combines fhEVM with Rollup technology, proposing the FHE-Rollups Layer 2 solution. It adopts Optimistic Rollups technology, including components such as fraud proofs, the core library fheOS, and the threshold service network.

Fhenix has also introduced the Relay module, allowing various blockchain networks to access FHE functionality. Combined with the Restaking mechanism of EigenLayer, the efficiency and flexibility of FHE Coprocessors have been enhanced.

FHE technology shows great potential in areas such as fully homomorphic encryption games, DeFi, and AI. It can protect financial transactions in the gaming economy, reduce MEV attack risks in DeFi, and safeguard personal privacy data in AI model training.

FHE has received high recognition from industry insiders, including Vitalik Buterin. In addition to Zama and Fhenix, projects like Sunscreen, Mind Network, and PADO Labs also have a place in the FHE ecosystem. Non-profit organizations such as FHE.org and FHE Onchain provide important support for the development of the ecosystem.

With the imminent launch of the Fhenix mainnet, we have reason to believe that FHE technology will bring revolutionary changes to various fields, creating a future full of innovation and vitality.