Homomorphic Commitment

Definition ∞ Homomorphic commitment is a cryptographic primitive that allows for verifiable computations on encrypted data without decrypting it, while also serving as a commitment scheme. This means a party can commit to a value and later reveal it, proving they knew the value beforehand. Crucially, operations performed on the committed data yield a new commitment that corresponds to the result of the same operation on the original, uncommitted data. This property enables privacy-preserving computations.
Context ∞ The application of homomorphic commitment is a significant area of research and development in privacy-focused blockchains and confidential computing. News often reports on advancements in zero-knowledge proofs and secure multi-party computation that leverage this technology. Understanding homomorphic commitments helps in evaluating the potential for enhanced data privacy and secure off-chain computation in future digital asset systems.