In the N analyses of encryption technology FHE written in the past, an interesting sign was found that all projects without exception added Zama on the comparison page. Don't worry about how everyone checks √ and x, but only your competitors know you the best. Bringing Zama over for various projects already shows that Zama's research in cryptocurrency FHE has been recognized by peers 。 The reason why this post is about Zama is because @ zama is finally going to start public fundraising recently. Understanding FHE is not easy. A frequently cited example. If you have a sensitive math problem, you need a computer to help you process it. However, if you don't want to directly send the plaintext to the computer, you need to encrypt your math problem through FHE and send the encrypted garbled code to the computer. Although the computer doesn't understand the meaning of this garbled code, it has processed it for you according to mathematical rules and replied with a paragraph of garbled code. But at this moment, you can restore the garbled text to the real answer. This not only utilizes the computing power of computers, but also ensures that your secrets are not leaked. Zama itself is not a chain, it should be considered a set of protocols that allow others to use its technology to create FHE applications, that is, "create confidential applications". For example, Zama used its own FHE technology in this public auction. It has turned the traditional sealed Dutch version into an on chain version, which has two stages: 1. Bidding stage Everyone has ample time to bid Everyone is free to bid Price publicly available, but quantity confidential 2. Settlement stage Smart contracts sum up from high to low until the quantity is filled up Fill in price is the final transaction price Low price refund, high price refund for price difference This settlement is a bit interesting. For example, suppose there are a total of 1000 tokens and three people, A, B, and C, participate. 1. Bidding stage -A wants to buy 200 pieces, with a quote of 3 and a deposit of 200 * 3=600 U; -B wants to buy 1000 pieces, with a quote of 2 and a deposit of 1000 * 2=2000 U; -C wants to buy 700 pieces, with a quote of 1 and a deposit of 700 * 1=700 U. 2. Settlement stage -A will purchase 200 full weight pieces at a rate of 2 and receive a refund of 200 U for the price difference; -B purchased 800 pieces of partial quota according to 2, and refunded the remaining 400 U; -Due to being sold out but not purchased, the full amount of 700 U will be refunded. In the real world, this traditional sealed auction is not difficult to achieve, as long as there is a notary public. This notary is somewhat similar to a judge in a board game, he has the right to know the overall situation, knowing everyone's price and amount. But when it comes to the chain, without this notary, we have to rely on cryptographic technology. The implementation method of Zama is also very clever and FHE. It requires each bidder to first convert a certain amount of ERC-20 USDT, USDC, and DAI into secret assets in ERC-7984 format through a smart contract. When bidding, you take out several assets from this ERC-7984 to participate in the auction. And during settlement, only when the smart contract fills the quota can we know how much money each party has contributed. And during the auction process, it cannot be seen from the chain (because it is equivalent to the "garbled code" in the previous example). There is also a game involved here, which is that theoretically you can offer a high price to get more credit, but in the end, the transaction will be based on the middle price. However, you need to guard against others thinking the same way, as this may lead to buying too high. Similarly, you can also come up with a super low price to catch up, as you can still get a refund if you can't buy it, especially when you find that the total amount of ERC-7984 secret assets is relatively small. Note that in the locking step, as it involves USDT and ERC-20, it can be seen on the chain. The operation after becoming ERC-7984 cannot be seen. From this perspective, this auction is really a good balance mechanism that takes into account the three points of not competing quickly, everyone's free bidding, and no price discrimination (the final transaction price is the same), solving an impossible triangle in the auction.