The Developer Network (devnet)

For network details, visit the Networkspage.

A Privacy Preserving Blockchain

Privacy is a fundamental and crucial aspect of blockchain technology, and our devnet endeavors to provide the privacy features expected in a blockchain by utilizing garbled circuits (GC). The devnet employs mechanisms to integrate security and privacy characteristics that are important in a public domain like a blockchain. As the main building block of preserving privacy on-chain is garbled circuit, we call such an EVM compatible system a gcEVM.

High-Level Aspects of the Developer Network (devnet)

1. Client Key Simulation: Apart of the usual and beloved signing key that is generated and kept secret by user, in the gcEVM each user is also assigned a symmetric encryption key. This encryption (and decryption) key is distributively generated by the network and is available only to the user. Each MPC node in the network will store a map that connects an EOA address (or a public verification key of a signature scheme) with a share of the symmetric key of that address. Users must ask the network (via a transaction) to generate a key for them if they want to input secret data items to the network, however, if there is no such need (i.e., a user will never need to enter secret data to the network) then the user can simply use the network just like any other EVM-compatible chain. Note that a contract may decide to re-encrypt some secret value to a specific user, meaning that the secret value is decryptable by that user only (rather than decrypting it, which makes it visible to all); in which case, the contract will ask to re-encrypt (or off-board, in the gcEVM terminology) that data item to that use, and a symmetric key will be generated if it was not yet assigned to that user.

2. Emulated Privacy: We note that in the devnet privacy is emulated, meaning that there is only one party that emulates the operation of garbled circuits evaluation, and so if that party wishes, it can inspect all secrets entered to the chain. We stress that this situation is only relevant and also important to the DevNet, where we learn the common usages of the system and fix bugs in order to improve it for later stages where real MPC is in place and it would be much harder to fix bugs. Importantly, users' private data remains confidential and is not exposed to other participants, enhancing individual privacy.

3. Experimental Sandbox: Despite its limitations, our devnet serves as an invaluable experimental sandbox for developers. It provides a platform to explore and refine privacy-enhancing features in blockchain.

The devnet offers developers a tangible platform to imagine a new world where on-chain privacy is easy; it allows developers to test their applications and protocols. The devnet bridges the conceptual gap between theory and practical implementation, advancing the frontier of blockchain privacy.

We invite you to join us in exploring the potential of the gcEVM devnet. Dive into its functionalities, experiment with its capabilities, and contribute to the ongoing dialogue about privacy in blockchain.