Tandem, the partner studio and venture capital arm of Offchain Labs, today announced a strategic investment in Fhenix, to integrate Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) onto the blockchain ecosystem, including Arbitrum. FHE allows computations on encrypted data without decryption, enhancing security while addressing critical confidentiality issues within the Ethereum network.
The growing demand for privacy positions this partnership to unlock many new use cases that will drive consumer and institutional interest. These include confidential financial transactions, private voting systems, secure data marketplaces, and enhanced identity verification, among others — all while maintaining the core benefits of blockchain technology.
“After building in crypto for over a decade, I came to realize that FHE is the technology best-suited to providing private computation on the blockchain,” said Guy Zyskind, Founder of Fhenix. “I can’t think of better partners to help take FHE mainstream than the team that created interactive fraud proofs for optimistic rollups.”
FHE has previously been viewed as too complex and slow for blockchain implementation, but recent advancements, including breakthroughs by the Fhenix team, have made FHE a practical reality today. This investment underscores Tandem’s commitment to advancing privacy research and facilitating its application within the blockchain ecosystem.
“Privacy remains one of blockchain’s greatest adoption hurdles, particularly for institutional users. Our strategic investment in Fhenix addresses this challenge head-on by bringing FHE capabilities to the blockchain,” said Ira Auerbach, Head of Tandem by Offchain Labs. “This partnership exemplifies Tandem’s commitment to empowering innovations that solve critical Web3 challenges while expanding what’s possible for developers.”
“This investment from and partnership with Tandem by Offchain Labs is a serious vote of confidence from one of the most accomplished and respected teams in the space,” said Guy Itzhaki, CEO of Fhenix. “Together we plan on fulfilling Fhenix’s mission of bringing FHE to everyone, everywhere.”
“FHE is a breakthrough in cryptography that enables blockchain privacy while preserving transparent security,” said Steven Goldfeder, CEO and Co-founder of Offchain Labs. “Once considered to be an academic innovation that was years away from practicality, the Fhenix team has made breakthrough strides in bringing this technology to market. With a dynamic team of leading researchers and developers, Fhenix is well-equipped to pioneer innovation in cryptographic solutions globally and usher in an era of privacy-enabled smart contracts.”
This partnership follows successful investments and studio deals with projects such as Xai, Espresso Systems and Camelot, further expanding and enabling unique and innovative projects to grow successfully with the backing of the experts at Tandem.
About Fhenix
Fhenix brings confidentiality to the EVM via Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), a novel cryptographic scheme that enables computation of encrypted data. Fhenix advances FHE research and creates tools that enable application developers to create encrypted smart contracts using FHE. To learn more, please visit https://www.fhenix.io/
About Tandem
Tandem, the partner studio and venture capital arm of Offchain Labs, is committed to empowering early-stage blockchain projects by providing the resources and expertise needed to overcome crypto’s toughest challenges. Through a unique combination of industry knowledge and access to Offchain Labs’ extensive resources, Tandem offers tailored guidance in research, product development, engineering, and strategic partnerships. Tandem also actively supports growth by participating in funding rounds of projects that are shaping the future of blockchain infrastructure and applications.
About Offchain Labs
Offchain Labs is a venture-backed, Princeton-founded company that has dedicated over six years to blockchain research and development. As the original contributors to Arbitrum, the leading Ethereum scaling solution, and Prysm, the leading consensus client for Ethereum, Offchain Labs has been instrumental in revolutionizing the industry through groundbreaking advancements in blockchain scalability and efficiency. The team continues to build upon this foundation by innovating and enhancing products such as Arbitrum Orbit, Stylus, Prysm, and Arbitrum Nitro.
