What is the Context of Privacy-Enhancing Technology?

The discussion surrounding Privacy-Enhancing Technology often highlights its critical role in achieving regulatory compliance, particularly with data protection laws like GDPR. In the blockchain space, PETs are crucial for developing scalable and private decentralized applications, addressing the inherent transparency of public ledgers. A critical future development involves the standardization and broader adoption of these technologies, making them more accessible and efficient for developers and users seeking to safeguard their digital information.

Privacy-Enhancing Technology

Definition

Privacy-Enhancing Technology, or PET, encompasses a range of tools and techniques designed to protect personal data and user privacy during data collection, processing, and sharing. These technologies allow for the use of data while minimizing or eliminating the exposure of sensitive information. Examples include zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption, and differential privacy, which enable computation or verification without revealing underlying data. PETs are becoming increasingly vital in digital asset systems to balance transparency with individual confidentiality.

∞Network

∞Protocols

∞Verifiable Computation

Distributed zk-SNARKs Achieve Massive Efficiency through Binary Field Delegation

FDzkS protocol utilizes binary fields and group signatures to enable near-offline proof delegation, eliminating network bottlenecks for scalable privacy.

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∞Decentralized Systems

∞Byzantine Robustness

∞Non-Interactive Protocol

Non-Interactive Verifiable Aggregation Secures Private Decentralized Data Computation

A new cryptographic primitive, NIVA, combines functional encryption and verifiable proofs to enable private, robust, and non-interactive data aggregation by untrusted servers.

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∞Digital Identity Layer

∞User Data Control

∞Decentralized Identity

Humanity Protocol Secures Funding to Scale Palm-Scan Proof-of-Humanity Identity Network

The palm-scan biometric primitive establishes a sybil-resistant digital identity layer, fundamentally securing the on-chain user economy from bot-driven fraud.

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∞Vector Oblivious Linear Evaluation

∞MPC Primitives

∞Zero-Knowledge Proof

Vector Oblivious Linear Evaluation Unlocks Efficient Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems

VOLE-ZK leverages MPC primitives to construct highly efficient, CPU-friendly zero-knowledge proofs for complex computation.

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∞Verifiable Computation

∞Proof Size Reduction

∞Optimal Prover Time

Optimal Prover Time Succinct Zero-Knowledge Proofs Redefine Scalability

The Libra proof system achieves optimal linear prover time, solving the primary bottleneck of ZKPs to unlock practical, large-scale verifiable computation.

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∞Encrypted State

∞Lightweight Client

∞ZKPs

Fully Homomorphic Encryption Enables Private Smart Contracts with Offloaded Computation

FHE enables private smart contracts by allowing miners to compute on encrypted data, shifting the cryptographic burden from lightweight users.

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∞Privacy-Enhancing Technology

∞Blockchain Security

∞Quantum Random Oracle

Post-Quantum zk-SNARKs from LWE Secure Verifiable Computation for All Circuits

This research formalizes quantum-safe zk-SNARKs for arithmetic circuits using LWE, securing blockchain's verifiable computation layer.

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∞Distributed Ledgers

∞Privacy-Enhancing Technology

∞Robust Systems

Unifying Threshold Cryptography Services for Distributed Trust Systems

A new distributed service architecture unifies diverse threshold cryptographic schemes, simplifying deployment of robust solutions for frontrunning and key management.

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∞Unlinkability

∞Digital Identity

∞Verifiable Credentials

Zero-Knowledge Proofs Enhance Digital Identity Data Minimisation

This research demonstrates how zero-knowledge proofs can resolve the inherent tension between digital identity verifiability and data minimisation, enabling privacy-preserving attribute attestations.