Transparency made blockchains revolutionary, but it also introduced new risks. Wallet balances, transaction histories, and smart contract interactions are all publicly visible by default. This lack of confidentiality has become a major barrier for institutions and a growing concern for users who expect privacy in digital systems. Zama is addressing this challenge with a new kind of infrastructure. By leveraging Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), its Confidential Blockchain Protocol allows encrypted smart contracts to run seamlessly on existing chains, without compromising performance or composability. Backed by a 57 million dollar Series B and launched its public testnet on July 1, 2025, Zama is quickly becoming one of the most closely watched privacy protocols in crypto. This guide breaks down what Zama is, how its technology works, and how you can get involved early, including details on the potential $ZAMA airdrop.
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What Is Zama? The Privacy Powerhouse
Source: https://www.zama.ai/
Zama is a French cryptography company focused on bringing privacy to blockchain through a new class of infrastructure. Its core product, the Confidential Blockchain Protocol, acts as a privacy layer that sits on top of existing Layer 1 and Layer 2 chains. Rather than creating a new chain, Zama integrates with ecosystems like Ethereum and Solana, enabling smart contracts to run confidentially without changing the underlying network. This privacy is made possible through a combination of advanced cryptographic tools, allowing users and applications to interact securely without exposing sensitive data.
Ken Seiff, Co-Managing Partner of Blockchange Ventures, said: "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 is designed to be composable, interoperable, and developer-friendly, with support for widely used programming languages such as Solidity and Python. Backed by a massive $73 million in funding and a $1 billion+ valuation, Zama launched its public testnet on July 1, 2025. The buzz is real: Zama is rapidly emerging as the most anticipated privacy protocol in crypto.
Who Created Zama?
Zama is an open source cryptography powerhouse dedicated to advancing Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) for the blockchain industry. The company was founded by Pascal Paillier, a trailblazer in FHE technology, alongside Rand Hindi, a serial entrepreneur renowned for his work in privacy innovation. Together, they are driving the development of cutting-edge encryption solutions designed to bring robust privacy and security to decentralized systems.
How Zama's Confidential Blockchain Protocol Works
Source: Zama Litepaper
Zama's protocol is a cryptographic marvel, combining three cutting-edge technologies:
• Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE): Enables computation of encrypted data, keeping information private at every step. FHE is so advanced that the global market for homomorphic encryption is projected to reach $268 million by 2027 (MarketsandMarkets).
• Multi-Party Computation (MPC): Splits decryption keys among multiple parties, eliminating single points of failure and boosting security.
• Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK): Validates transactions and inputs without revealing any underlying data, ensuring trust and confidentiality.
Instead of bogging down the blockchain, Zama deploys a decentralized network of FHE coprocessors. Developers code in Solidity, Python, or JavaScript, with Zama's libraries handling encrypted values through symbolic execution. This keeps blockchains lean and enables encrypted operations to scale across networks.
Instead of running these encrypted computations directly on-chain, Zama uses a decentralized network of FHE coprocessors. Developers write contracts using Zama's Solidity library, which applies symbolic execution to represent encrypted values. This architecture keeps the base chain lightweight while allowing encrypted operations to scale in parallel.
Key Features of Zama
Zama's architecture stands out as a powerhouse of privacy and flexibility, designed to meet the demands of the next generation of blockchain applications. At its core, Zama delivers fully encrypted computation, ensuring that your data remains confidential at every stage of processing. Its cross-chain compatibility means seamless integration with leading networks like Ethereum, Solana, and a wide range of Layer 1 and Layer 2 ecosystems, opening doors to limitless possibilities.
Zama's architecture stands out as a powerhouse of privacy and flexibility, designed to meet the demands of the next generation of blockchain applications. At its core, Zama delivers fully encrypted computation, ensuring that your data remains confidential at every stage of processing. Its cross-chain compatibility means seamless integration with leading networks like Ethereum, Solana, and a wide range of Layer 1 and Layer 2 ecosystems, opening doors to limitless possibilities.
Who Is Backing Zama? Inside $73M in Funding and Real-World Adoption
Zama has raised a total of $73M across two major funding rounds, making it one of the most well-funded privacy infrastructure projects in the blockchain space. The company's Series A was led by Blockchange Ventures, a firm known for backing core cryptographic technologies. In June 2025, Zama secured a 57 million dollar Series B led by Pantera Capital, with continued support from Blockchange, pushing its valuation to over 1 billion dollars. The ample funding will support the expansion of its FHE coprocessor network, developer tools, and performance scaling across chains.
The strong institutional backing reflects confidence in Zama's long-term roadmap and its ability to bring scalable, confidential smart contracts to mainstream blockchain platforms. Zama's technology is already being applied in real-world environments. Projects such as Shiba Inu, Fhenix, Mind Network, and Privasea are building with Zama's Fully Homomorphic Encryption capabilities to enable confidential use cases in areas like AI, digital identity, and decentralized infrastructure. These integrations highlight Zama's growing role in the development of privacy-first Web3 applications.
Where Can Zama's FHE Technology Be Applied in Web3?
Below are some of the key areas where Zama's technology is actively being applied or holds strong potential across the Web3 ecosystem:
• Private stablecoin payments: Zama enables encrypted stablecoin transfers where wallet balances and transaction amounts remain confidential. At the same time, compliance logic can be embedded into the token contract, supporting use cases like payroll, remittances, and B2B transactions.
• Confidential DeFi protocols: Developers can create DeFi applications with encrypted swaps, lending, and credit scoring. These designs protect user behavior from surveillance or front-running and open the door to more private financial infrastructure.
• Onchain identity and governance: Zama supports encrypted credentials, verifiable claims, and anonymous voting systems. This allows users to prove eligibility or participate in governance without exposing sensitive personal or financial data.
• Sealed-bid auctions and private token distributions: Projects can run fair auctions where bid values and participant identities remain hidden until settlement. Confidential airdrops and staking mechanics can also be implemented to increase user protection and security.
These use cases highlight Zama's role not only as a privacy solution, but as a foundational layer for building next-generation Web3 applications that require confidentiality, compliance, and composability.
When Is the $ZAMA Airdrop and How Can You Participate?
While Zama has not officially confirmed the full details of a $ZAMA token airdrop, several strong signals point to a likely distribution aligned with its testnet and mainnet rollout. If you're looking to get involved early, now is the time to prepare.
Key Dates to Know
• Testnet launched: July 1, 2025
• Mainnet launch: Exact date to be announced. Expected in the following months
• Token release: TBA
• Eligibility snapshot: Not announced, but testnet participation may play a role
How to Potentially Qualify for Zama Airdrops
Although there is no confirmed airdrop campaign yet, Zama has encouraged early users and developers to sign up for testnet access. Here are ways you might position yourself for eligibility:
1. Sign up for testnet access: Register at Zama Testnet to receive early developer tools, documentation, and updates.
2. Interact with the protocol: Participate in testnet activities such as deploying or interacting with confidential smart contracts, running demos, or using the SDK.
3. Follow official channels: Stay updated via social media X @zama_fhe and @randhindi for announcements, guides, and campaign details.
4. Contribute to the ecosystem: Explore Zama's open-source GitHub repo and consider contributing code, reporting bugs, or sharing feedback.
Zama's builder-first approach suggests that active testnet participants and early adopters may be recognized when the $ZAMA token officially launches.
What's Next for $ZAMA: Roadmap and Scaling
Zama’s public testnet launched on July 1, 2025, and is entering a critical growth phase. Backed by 73 million dollars in funding, the team is focused on performance optimization, developer support, and mainnet rollout across Ethereum, EVM-compatible chains, and Solana.
Key Milestones
• Public Testnet (July 2025): Developers will gain access to full documentation, SDKs, and sample confidential contracts
• Mainnet (TBA): Deployment will begin on Ethereum, with broader multi-chain support to follow.
Zama's Privacy-First Web3
Zama is on a mission to become the foundational confidentiality layer for all of blockchain, enabling privacy as a default for every decentralized application and network. The protocol is engineered for massive scalability, leveraging hardware acceleration to meet the demands of real-world usage. Starting with a baseline of 20 transactions per second (TPS), Zama's performance roadmap projects growth to 50–100 TPS using GPUs, 500–1,000 TPS with FPGAs, and over 10,000 TPS per chain through dedicated ASICs—delivering speeds that rival and surpass many existing public blockchains. This approach ensures encrypted smart contracts can operate efficiently at scale, supporting everything from DeFi to digital identity. By combining composable privacy, seamless multi-chain compatibility, and developer-friendly tools, Zama is laying the groundwork for a more secure, scalable, and privacy-first Web3 ecosystem.
Conclusion
Zama is setting the stage for a new era of blockchain privacy and scalability. By harnessing the power of Fully Homomorphic Encryption, Zama's Confidential Blockchain Protocol delivers true end-to-end encryption for smart contracts ensuring data remains secure without sacrificing composability or usability across multiple networks. Backed by substantial funding, rapid ecosystem growth, and a developer-centric design, Zama is quickly establishing itself as the go-to privacy infrastructure for Web3. With the public testnet now live and an expanding roster of projects integrating its technology, Zama stands poised to drive the next major leap forward in blockchain confidentiality and secure decentralized innovation.
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