As US authorities continue to crackdown on privacy agreements, privacy technology has once again become a focal point in the market. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently shared his article from 2020, providing an in-depth introduction to Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), a technology that allows for data processing while maintaining the security of personal information.
Table of Contents:
Introduction to FHE
Wide Applications of FHE
Differences Between FHE, ZK, and MPC
Against the backdrop of recent discussions on privacy issues, Vitalik Buterin has been actively involved. First, he stood up for the privacy protocol Railgun, and then he criticized the attack on cryptocurrency values after the US Congress approved a controversial provision in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, extending its validity for 2 years. On the 5th, Buterin tweeted that there has been a lot of interest in Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) technology recently. As a result, he republished his article from 2020, providing a detailed introduction to the mathematical principles behind FHE.
According to Buterin in the article, FHE has long been considered one of the holy grails of cryptography. FHE is an encryption technology that allows third parties to perform computations on encrypted data and obtain encrypted results. The third party can then return the results to anyone who has the decryption key for the original data, but the third party itself cannot decrypt the data or the results.
Buterin gives an example of a user receiving a series of emails and wanting to use a third-party spam filter to check if they are junk emails. Typically, the spam filter would want to protect the privacy of its algorithm. This can be achieved through FHE, as the user does not want to upload their unencrypted emails to a third party while still caring about the privacy of their own data.
The article mentions that FHE has wide-ranging applications, including in the blockchain field. It can be used to implement privacy-preserving lightweight clients, more efficient stealth address protocols, and scalable solutions for privacy protection protocols. Current privacy protection protocols require each user to personally scan the entire blockchain to obtain incoming transactions.
FHE also enables the creation of a privacy-preserving data sharing marketplace, allowing users to perform specific calculations on their data while maintaining complete control over their data.
As a component of more powerful cryptographic primitives, FHE can be used in the construction of more privacy-preserving smart contracts and other blockchain applications in the cryptocurrency field. Zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) are used to establish scalable blockchain solutions, while secure multi-party computation (MPC) is primarily used for private key management and custody.
In a previous article, Portal Ventures discussed FHE technology and analyzed its differences with zero-knowledge proofs and secure multi-party computation, stating that FHE can be used to build more privacy-preserving smart contracts and other blockchain applications in the cryptocurrency field. ZK is used to establish scalable blockchain solutions, while MPC is mainly used for private key management and custody.
Though FHE, ZK, and MPC have some overlapping aspects, the article points out that they each have their own unique advantages and application scenarios. In the cryptocurrency community, these three technologies have provided significant potential for enhancing privacy and security. However, their integration and further research remain active areas in the encryption community.
Related Reports
What is the “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act” that angered Vitalik Buterin? Can the FBI monitor “foreign targets” without a search warrant? What impact does it have on the cryptocurrency community?
Vitalik Buterin praises meme coins: Memecoins should be fun but also “meaningful”! They should not become tools for a few people to get rich.
Even Musk asks Vitalik: Why did you leave X? What is the charm of Farcaster, strongly promoted by Vitalik Buterin?