Enclave Community Update no°2

Enclave Community Update no°2
Enclave is an open-source protocol for Collaborative Confidential Computation. Join our community on Telegram and follow our journey on X.

February marks a major transition point for the protocol: from deep cryptographic R&D toward full system integration and testnet validation. The primitives are in place. The focus now is integration, coordination, and operational readiness. As part of this shift, we’re opening the conversation to the broader ecosystem. Don't miss our first X Space next Thursday, focused on imagining private futures beyond surveillance.

1. Technical Progress & R&D

Phase 2 Complete: ZK Circuits Finalized

We’ve reached a major milestone in our technical roadmap. All core Zero-Knowledge (ZK) circuits for the Enclave protocol have now been completed, internally tested, and finalized. Following rigorous refinement, they’ve been migrated from our specialized development repository into the primary monorepo, standardizing the codebase and making it accessible across the team. This marks the completion of a critical cryptographic phase and the beginning of full integration into the broader system.

Infrastructure Overhaul & Modularization

Alongside circuit completion, we executed a significant architectural upgrade to the surrounding infrastructure. The generator responsible for producing ZK inputs and configuration parameters has been redesigned for: 

  • Improved efficiency
  • Horizontal scalability
  • Stronger security

As part of this refactor, key functionalities were decoupled into standalone crates, improving maintainability, testability, and long-term reuse:

  • CRT Polynomials: Dedicated crate handling Chinese Remainder Theorem polynomial arithmetic, foundational for our FHE scheme.
  • BFV Parameter Search Algorithm: An optimized algorithm to securely determine optimal parameters for the BFV homomorphic encryption scheme.
  • Parity Matrix Module:  A standalone component for generating and managing parity matrices required in specific ZK operations.

This modular approach reduces coupling across the stack and strengthens the protocol’s long-term resilience.

Transition to Integration: Ciphernodes
With circuits finalized, work has formally shifted to the Ciphernode infrastructure team. We’ve begun integrating the ZK circuits into the core ZK prover crate, the execution environment responsible for generating and verifying proofs within the system. This marks the shift from pure cryptographic R&D to full system-level integration and internal testnet validation.

In parallel, we are:

  • Writing comprehensive technical documentation
  • Preparing a scientific publication detailing our ZK-FHE scheme
  • Drafting an accessible technical blog post for the broader community

Additional Technical Progress

PVSS Integration
We’ve begun integrating PVSS circuits into Ciphernode software. This enables end-to-end verifiability for all E3s and allows us to define clear minimum hardware requirements for node operators.

CRISP Demos Live
Two working demos are live: crisp.enclave.gg and dao.enclave.gg. We continue polishing code and updating functionality.

Multi-Chain Refactor
Ciphernode software underwent a significant refactor to better handle events across multiple EVM chains, enabling E3s to run correctly across different networks.

Protocol & Slashing Mechanics
We’ve made strong progress on protocol updates to support slashing of misbehaving Ciphernodes. The full E3 lifecycle is now implemented at the smart contract level, with additional protocol changes underway to handle malicious node behavior, execution failures and error handling affecting E3 success. 

What’s Next

  • Integrate all proofs into Ciphernodes software
  • Run full internal testnet validation
  • Publish hardware requirements for node operators
  • Update CRISP demos to support multi-option ballots
  • Finalize slashing and malicious behavior handling

Testnet readiness is now primarily an integration and validation effort.

2. Ecosystem & Early Use Cases

Momentum across the ecosystem continues to grow. Here are a few new integrations and use cases we’re exploring.

Zecret Ballots (Zcash Community)

Zecret Ballots is a governance tool enabling Zcash community members to vote privately on governance decisions. Features include: binary and non-binary outcomes, optional abstention, as well as coercion-resistant voting. We’re planning a collaborative testing experience with community members, with potential to extend into production deployment.

Goverland.xyz

As a mobile-first distributor of Snapshot governance, Goverland will integrate with CRISP / Snapshot to bring secret voting capabilities to mobile governance. This integration enables privacy-preserving voting from smartphones, reducing risks of bribery and coercion while expanding accessibility.

Status App Collaboration

In collaboration with Aragon and Status, we’re working toward enabling DAOs and communities within the Status super app to vote privately and securely directly inside the application. This would bring coercion-resistant governance into one of Web3’s most privacy-aligned ecosystems.

3. Community

Join for our first X space focused on imagining private futures beyond surveillance, together with ecosystem partners and innovators in the Web3 privacy space.

Private Futures - What Comes After the Surveillance Internet?
📅 Thu, 26 Feb 2026
🕖 7PM GMT | 2PM EST

As surveillance becomes the default cost of participating online, privacy-first builders are charting a different path. Join the teams behind Enclave and Session Session, a next generation private messenger, for a conversation on:

  • Secure messaging
  • Coordination without metadata leaks
  • Analytics without surveillance assumptions
  • What new social spaces emerge when privacy is infrastructural

See you there!

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