Zama and OpenZeppelin Partner to Launch Confidential Smart Contracts for Institutional Adoption

Zama, an open-source cryptography firm specializing in Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), has joined forces with OpenZeppelin to bring confidential smart contracts into production. The collaboration aims to address institutional hesitancy toward blockchain adoption by ensuring transactional privacy without sacrificing decentralization or composability.

The protocol mimics ERC-20 functionality while encrypting balances and transfers by default—enabling financial institutions to leverage public ledger transparency without exposing sensitive client data. OpenZeppelin's battle-tested security infrastructure, which safeguards over $218 billion in digital assets, will underpin Zama's cryptographic innovations.

This development marks a pivotal step toward institutional adoption, as banks and fintech firms demand both auditability and confidentiality. The FHE LAYER processes encrypted data directly, allowing verification without revealing underlying values—a breakthrough for regulated entities navigating public blockchains.