Let me tell you a story about two French legends who met in 2015 and decided to solve the hardest problem in cryptography
Today, they run the largest FHE research team on Earth
This is @zama 🧵👇
#ZamaCreatorProgram
Let me break down what just happened with @zama.
Mainnet went live. First confidential USDT transfer executed on Ethereum.
No testnet hype. No "soon" tweets. No countdown posts. Just shipping.
For the first time in blockchain history, a stablecoin transfer happened on Ethereum where the transfer amount stayed encrypted end-to-end.
Not a zero-knowledge proof. Not a sidechain. Not a mixer. Not a privacy layer on top.
Fully Homomorphic Encryption. Native on Ethereum. Mainnet. Production.
This is the breakthrough everyone said was 10 years away.
Why this matters for DeFi:
Every transaction on Ethereum is public by default. Your positions, your trading strategy, your wallet balance—completely exposed to MEV bots, competitors, and anyone watching the mempool.
Zama just proved you can execute value transfers on Ethereum with full confidentiality while maintaining full composability with existing protocols.
Privacy isn't a nice-to-have feature anymore. It's foundational infrastructure that just went live.
Team promised mainnet delivery in 2025. They delivered on December 2025. That's what execution looks like.
What happens next:
January 12-15, 2026: Public auction opens (10% of total $ZAMA supply available)
January 20, 2026: Token Generation Event (TGE) + claiming begins
Q1 2026: Ecosystem apps deploy (Zaiffer for confidential ERC-20 wrapping, TokenOps for private vesting/airdrops, Bron Wallet with native ERC-7984 support, Raycash for encrypted stablecoin banking, Deberrys for sealed-bid auctions, tGBP for confidential GBP stablecoin, and more)
Mainnet just went live. The real deployment phase is starting now.
This is what separates serious teams from noise.
No hype threads for months leading up to launch. No countdowns. No "we're so close" updates every week.
Just: "We shipped mainnet. Here's the first confidential transaction on Ethereum. Technical breakdown next week."
Most teams talk about privacy as a future vision. Zama just made it production infrastructure.
Privacy on-chain isn't coming anymore. It's executing transactions right now.
Congratulations @zama
#ZamaCreatorProgram
🚨🚨 Post number 05 for the #ZamaCreatorProgram season hidden 06 🚨🚨
Everyone knows that the @zama token is coming soon, and what better way to explain its usefulness than with a friendly reminder?
All presented by your favourite mascot ! F_0xHE !
L E T S G O !
Today's lesson :
What makes the $ZAMA token special? Why isn't this just another governance token?
1 ) THE CORE UTILITY: POWERING THE FHE ENGINE
The $ZAMA utility token plays a central role in the protocol. It is used to pay for encryption and decryption, as well as reward operators and stakers for running and securing the network.
Think of it this way: Every time you want privacy on-chain, you're using computational power.
And computational power needs fuel.
That fuel is $ZAMA.
What you're paying for:
- Verifying proofs
- Decrypting results
- Bridging encrypted assets
- Processing encrypted transactions on-chain
2 ) THE ECONOMIC MODEL: BURN-AND-MINT
Here's where $ZAMA becomes FUNDAMENTALLY different from typical tokens:
All fees are burned, while rewards are minted following a yearly emission schedule.
What does this mean?
Every confidential transaction, every encrypted operation, every privacy-preserving computation = tokens BURNED 🔥
Meanwhile, network operators and stakers earn minted rewards for securing the protocol.
This creates a dynamic supply model where network usage directly reduces supply while utility increases demand.
The more people use Zama for privacy, the more deflationary pressure on $ZAMA!
3 ) STAKING: SECURING THE ENCRYPTED FUTURE
Token holders will participate in protocol governance through on-chain voting for critical decisions, but that's just the beginning.
Staking $ZAMA allows you to:
- Become a network operator (coprocessor or KMS node)
- Earn monthly compensation plus token rewards
- Secure the FHE infrastructure
- Access volume-based fee discounts (up to 99%!)
Coprocessors and KMS nodes earn staking rewards proportional to their stake and performance, while facing slashing penalties for malicious activity or extended downtime Zama.
This isn't passive staking ! You're actively securing the world's first production-scale FHE network !
4 ) REAL UTILITY = REAL DEMAND
Here's what separates $ZAMA from "just another token":
- MANDATORY FOR PRIVACY :
You want confidential DeFi ? You need $ZAMA.
You want encrypted smart contracts? You need $ZAMA.
You want private transactions? You need $ZAMA.
There's no alternative ! Zama adds a layer of confidentiality to existing public blockchains using Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to keep transaction data and onchain state encrypted while still allowing smart contracts to be executed.
- CROSS-CHAIN UTILITY :
Zama operates on top of existing chains, meaning any token or smart contract can be converted into a confidential version without bridging to a new network
- ENTERPRISE-GRADE DEMAND
Banks need confidentiality, not anonymity. Enterprises need to protect proprietary data, not hide their identity.
We're not talking about niche privacy coins here. We're talking about institutional-grade privacy infrastructure that enables :
- Confidential DeFi (hide trading strategies)
- Private healthcare data processing
- Encrypted identity verification
- Sealed-bid auctions
- Compliant RWA tokenization
WHY THIS ISN'T "JUST ANOTHER TOKEN" !
Let me spell it out:
Most tokens :
- Optional governance rights
- Speculative value
- No mandatory usage
- Limited real utility
$ZAMA token:
- REQUIRED for every encrypted operation
- Deflationary burn mechanism
- Revenue-generating staking
- Cross-chain utility
- Enterprise adoption incoming
- Hardware acceleration coming
- First-mover in production FHE
THE TIMING: MAINNET = TOKEN ACTIVATION
Mainnet is expected to launch S O O N, with the $ZAMA token minted and fully functional.
This is a post-mainnet sale, meaning the token will have IMMEDIATE utility upon distribution.
No waiting months or years for "when mainnet launches someday." IYKYK
The protocol is LIVE. The utility is REAL. The demand starts DAY ONE.
To finish this big pavelard :
The $ZAMA token isn't just another governance token you hold and hope appreciates.
It's the economic engine of the world's first production-scale FHE protocol. It's REQUIRED infrastructure for the encrypted internet. It's the gasoline for privacy-preserving computation across all major blockchains.
If two parties have some sort of dealings, then each has a memory of their interaction. Each party can speak about their own memory of this; how could anyone prevent it?
The answer ? FHE. And FHE runs on @zama !
This is why I'm excited. This is why you should be too.
This is why we are here. This is why Privacy Matters !
F_0xHE . 🦊
So the OG NFT gives you:
40,000 $ZAMA at $0.005 ($200 for $55m FDV entry)
+ 5% bonus on public auction bids
This is early believer equity reserved for creators and developers who showed up before mainnet.
The Zama OG NFT rewards creators and developers who believed in Zama’s mission early. Thanks in part to your support, Zama went from moon-math curiosity to a top-trending protocol, putting privacy + FHE on the map forever. As a token of appreciation (no pun intended), OG NFT holders get two exclusive benefits:
🚨🚨 Post number 03 for the #ZamaCreatorProgram season hidden 06 🚨🚨
Today's lesson presented by our friend F_0xHE : How will FHE revolutionize KYC for exchanges? 🔐
I notice humans often hesitate to share their identity information and honestly, I totally get it!
Privacy concerns, data breach risks, and platform distrust are real issues.
That's where Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) comes to the rescue!
Here's the magic: FHE allows compliance with regulatory requirements by transmitting identity data while keeping it completely confidential.
With @zama, users could share their identity just once, and it gets encrypted instantly afterward.
Imagine this world with me:
You only disclose your identity a single time to a secure entity.
Thanks to FHE and @zama, this entity can then provide verification data to any platform requiring KYC without ever exposing your actual information!
Let me show you how it works:
⚡ You complete KYC on Platform A
⚡ Later, you want to trade on Platform B
⚡ Instead of resubmitting documents, you send an FHE compliance token that certifies (in encrypted form) your identity is already verified.
#ZamaCreatorProgram #Zama #FHE #Privacy #OG #NFT #Web3
THREAD L'ÉQUIPE ZAMA : LES LÉGENDES DE LA CRYPTOGRAPHIE
Aujourd'hui je te présente l'équipe @zama, je n'ai pas vu beaucoup de tweet en parler,
et pourtant c'est ce qui fera surement la différence :
- 102 employés full-time
- 37 PhDs dans l'équipe (PhDs = doctorat = diplôme universitaire le plus elevé)
- +150 Patents (Patents = brevets = inventions officielles protégées légalement)
- Les inventeurs des algos FHE
Un leadership qui a littéralement inventé la cryptographie que l'industrie utilise.
1/// LA FONDATION (Janvier 2020)
@zama a été fondé en janvier 2020 par deux géants :
- Dr. Rand Hindi (@randhindi) ---) CEO
- Dr. Pascal Paillier ---) CTO
La rencontre : 2015
Le timing était parfait (pandémie = focus 100% sur Zama)
2/// DR. RAND HINDI, PhD + CEO
Twitter : @randhindi
PARCOURS :
- PhD Bioinformatics UCL (University College London)
- Fondateur de Snips (AI voice assistant acquis par Sonos)
- Ex-GP Unit VC (deeptech investor)
- Serial entrepreneur (a commencé à coder à 10 ans, 1ère startup à 14 ans)
RECONNAISSANCES :
- TR35 du MIT Technology Review (top 35 innovateurs <35 ans)
- Forbes "30 under 30"
- Ancien membre du French Digital Council (focus IA & Privacy)
- Conférencier Sciences Po Paris
Builder à l'intersection de l'IA, biotech et crypto depuis +15ans.
3/// DR. PASCAL PAILLIER, PhD + CTO
LE PIONNIER DU FHE
- PhD dans Cryptography à Telecom Paris
- Ex-Head of Cryptography à Gemalto (géant de la sécurité)
- Inventeur du "Paillier Encryption scheme" (1999)
C'est lui qui a inventé l'un des premiers schémas de chiffrement homomorphe.
Le nom de Paillier est dans les textbooks de cryptographie.
4/// PROF. NIGEL SMART, Chief Academic Officer (CAO)
TRIPLE CASQUETTE :
- Professeur de Cryptography à KU Leuven (Belgique)
- CAO de Zama
- Co-fondateur de Unbound (acquis par Coinbase)
PhD dans la Cryptography à Kent University
Un des cryptographers les plus cités au monde.
Travaille simultanément :
- Zama (Paris, France)
- KU Leuven (Belgique)
Expert en :
- Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)
- Multi-Party Computation
- Blockchain cryptography
Quand Coinbase acquiert votre startup (Unbound), vous savez que vous êtes une légende.
5/// DR. MARC JOYE, PhD - Chef Scientifique (CSO)
LE MONSTRE DES PATENTS :
- +150 cryptography patents (en moyenne les chercheurs ont dans leur carrière entre 1 et 5 inventions)
- Inventeur du Joye-Libert scheme
- PhD in Cryptography à UC Louvain
Un des cryptographers les plus prolifiques au monde.
150 inventions = Une contribution MASSIVE à la cryptographie moderne.
6/// DR. ILARIA CHILLOTTI, PhD
Ancien directeur de la recherche en cryptographie (jusqu'à novembre 2023)
- PhD à Versailles (2015-2018)
- Post-Doc à KU Leuven (Belgique)
- Ex-Microsoft Research
- Co-inventrice du TFHE scheme (Zama l'utilise)
Sa thèse : "Vers un chiffrement homomorphe entièrement efficace et sécurisé"
Experte en FHE, MPC, Cloud Computing.
7/// L'ÉQUIPE DE RECHERCHE MASSIVE
Plus grande équipe de recherche FHE au monde :
- +100 cryptographers
- +90 chercheurs
- 37 PhDs
- 102 employés full-time
Leadership incluant :
- Pascal Paillier
- Nigel Smart
- Marc Joye
- Ilaria Chillotti
- Damien Ligier
Et bien d'autres...
Cette équipe > toutes les autres équipes FHE combinées.
8/// LES CHIFFRES DE L'ÉQUIPE
- 37 PhDs dans l'équipe
- +150 Patents cryptographiques
- +5,000 développeurs utilisent les librairies Zama
- +26k Github stars
102 employés pour 37 PhDs = 36% de l'équipe à un Doctorat (environ 15% chez Google)
Cette équipe a publié plus de papers sur le FHE que n'importe quelle autre organisation.
C'est une machine de recherche académique... dans une startup.
9/// POURQUOI CETTE ÉQUIPE DOMINE
4 raisons simples :
[1] Ils ont inventé les algorithmes
- Paillier Encryption, Joye-Libert, TFHE
[2] Ils ont l'expérience académique
- KU Leuven, Telecom Paris, UCL
[3] Ils ont l'expérience industrielle
- Gemalto, Microsoft, Snips (acquis)
[4] Ils ont l'expérience crypto
- Unbound acquis par Coinbase
10/// LE RÉSEAU ACADÉMIQUE
L'équipe Zama a des liens avec :
- KU Leuven (Belgique Top crypto university)
- Telecom Paris (France)
- UCL London (UK)
- UC Louvain (Belgique)
- Microsoft Research
- Coinbase (via Unbound)
Ce réseau académique = Recrutement des MEILLEURS chercheurs
11/// LEADERSHIP OPEN-SOURCE
L'équipe Zama a développé :
- tfhe-rs : Fastest FHE library (Rust)
- Concrete : FHE ML framework
- Concrete ML : scikit-learn sur des données chiffrées
- fhEVM : Private smart contracts
- +26k Github stars
- +5,000 développeurs utilisent les librairies
12/// LES PUBLICATIONS ACADÉMIQUES
L'équipe Zama publie régulièrement dans :
- ASIACRYPT (top crypto conference)
- ACM CCS (top security conference)
- Security and Cryptography for Networks
Et bien d'autres...
Ilaria Chillotti seule :
- 12 publications
- 463 citations
- 39 citations/article moyenne
13/// LE RECRUTEMENT CHEZ ZAMA
Zama recrute activement :
- Protocol Cryptographers
- Applied Cryptography Engineers
- Blockchain Engineers
- Full-stack Engineers
- FHE Researchers
Requis :
- PhD (souvent)
- Connaissance FHE + ZK
- Passion open-source
Process détaillé : https://t.co/ZVBQeyJUOT
14/// CE QUI REND CETTE ÉQUIPE UNIQUE
La plupart des startups crypto :
- Devs qui apprennent la crypto
- Copient des papers existants
- Essaient de comprendre le FHE
Zama :
- Chercheurs qui ont écrit les papers
- Inventeurs des algorithmes
- Ils sont le FHE
15/// LE FUTURE
Avec le mainnet avant la fin 2025, l'équipe va probablement doubler :
- Plus de chercheurs
- Plus d'engineers
- Plus de business dev
De 102 → 200+ employés en 2026 ?
Les meilleurs talents crypto voudront rejoindre le leader FHE.
16/// CONCLUSION
L'ÉQUIPE ZAMA = ÉQUIPE PARFAITE
- 102 employés, 37 PhDs
- Inventeurs des algorithmes FHE
- Track record prouvé (acquisitions)
- Plus grande équipe de recherche FHE au monde
- Open-source leadership (26k stars)
- Publications académiques continues
#ZamaCreatorProgram