News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published a new article introducing Diamond iO, a novel cryptographic obfuscation technique. This technology aims to address the extreme inefficiency of traditional indistinguishability obfuscation (iO) schemes, allowing programs to execute while hiding their internal logic and critical data. Traditional iO technology offers privacy protection but at a high computational cost. Diamond iO, by adopting more aggressive new cryptographic assumptions, improves computational efficiency from "cosmological time" to "planetary time," bringing it closer to practical application. Diamond iO is built on technologies such as Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). It encrypts programs, enabling users to execute the encrypted program and obtain correct outputs without viewing its internal code or hidden keys. This scheme introduces a new input encoding mechanism and conditional decryption method, reducing computational complexity while ensuring program logic is hidden. Its core application scenarios include protecting programs containing private keys, enabling secure software licensing, building trustless cryptographic services, and supporting blockchain and AI systems with stronger privacy guarantees.Diamond iO is still in its early research stages. Its security depends on novel cryptographic assumptions, including All-Product LWE and Evasive LWE, which require further research and validation. At the same time, the technology still faces efficiency challenges such as high computational overhead and circuit depth limitations. Researchers believe that by optimizing underlying hash functions, improving homomorphic encryption schemes, and reducing security parameter requirements, Diamond iO has the potential to become an important direction for advancing practical program obfuscation technology in the future.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recommended the "The Interfold" project in a post, stating that more people should learn about Interfold. It is a general implementation version of the MACI (Minimal Anti-Collusion Infrastructure) concept he has repeatedly called for over the past decade. Essentially, this project is a privacy protocol optimized for scenarios such as voting and secret auctions, allowing more people to pay attention to and understand this technological advancement.Vitalik also stated that the core mechanisms of Interfold include generating threshold encryption keys, users submitting votes on-chain with ZKP eligibility proofs, performing arbitrary computations within Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) followed by threshold decryption. This enables unconditional voter anonymity, Ethereum-level censorship resistance, and ensures correctness through ZK over FHE, among other strong security guarantees. The main limitation at present is the high cost of complex computations (such as multiplication operations); only additive vote counting is mature. Optimizations based on slashing are being advanced, with a long-term goal of implementing obfuscation techniques to eliminate reliance on M-of-N committees.
According to The Block, privacy computing company Zama has acquired TokenOps, an enterprise-grade token lifecycle management platform, with plans to integrate fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) into institutional-grade token vesting, airdrops, and equity structure management. Zama stated that TokenOps has processed over $2 billion in distributions. Following the acquisition, issuers will be able to execute end-to-end token distribution, release schedules, and recipient identity verification—all on-chain and encrypted—based on the ERC-7984 Confidential Token standard. This solution is already live in production at KAIO, whose partner institutions include BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, and Brevan Howard. TokenOps will continue operating under its independent brand post-acquisition.