Fhenix Secures $7 Million for a Groundbreaking Confidential Blockchain
In a world where the quest for privacy often seems insurmountable, Ethereum-based blockchain, Fhenix, described as “confidential,” has reached a substantial milestone by concluding a $7 million seed round. Multicoin Capital and Collider Ventures spearheaded this funding journey, alongside influential entities such as Bankless, Node Capital, and HackVC. These acquired funds are earmarked for ushering the network into its public testnet phase as the new year unfolds.
The inherent public structure of blockchains, while lauded for its transparency, concurrently fuels ongoing privacy discussions. Addressing this dichotomy, Fhenix initiated a developer-centric project, integrating a pioneering form of cryptography named fully homomorphic encryption (FHE).
Revolutionizing Encryption: A Mature Cryptographic Approach
FHE is a revolutionary approach that facilitates computations with data remaining encrypted, negating the need for initial decryption. This ensures consistent encryption from input to outcome, safeguarding information throughout transactions and the deployment of smart contracts. Guy Itzhaki, the CEO of Fhenix, expressed to Decrypt that this innovative methodology has matured into a dependable cryptographic technology.
Itzhaki highlighted the prevalent confidentiality void within the blockchain domain as a pivotal challenge confronting the Web3 landscape. He emphasized that the absence of inherent encryption would likely perpetuate enterprise hesitance in adopting this technology.
The upcoming public testnet, benefitting predominantly from the raised funds, succeeds a private devnet inaugurated in July. Itzhaki revealed that this initiative garnered the participation of 60 developers, validating the company’s conviction in FHE as an apt tool.
Itzhaki distinguished FHE from its primary technological contender, Zero-Knowledge (zK) proofs, deeming the latter to be circumscribed due to its complexity and confined use cases. In contrast, Fhenix anticipates fostering EVM-compatibility, unlocking diverse applications such as confidential voting in DAOs, blind auctions, and confidential real-world asset tokenization, to name a few.
Emerging from a synergy with the established Secret Network, Fhenix aspires to evolve as an extension facilitating optional confidentiality. Itzhaki remarked on the versatility of their innovation, stating, “The beauty of what we are introducing is that it enables developers to decide what they want to encrypt.”
With Fhenix’s strategic advancements, the technological horizon seems poised for a transformative journey, intertwining blockchain’s openness with the sanctity of privacy, offering developers the autonomy to orchestrate their encryption preferences.
