Zama

zama

Rank #259•BNB Chain Ecosystem, Solana Ecosystem, Ethereum Ecosystem

CoinYQ Dossier

Zama existed for nearly six years before its token began trading

Zama's qualifying 2026 launch is narrow: claims opened at 12:00 UTC and trading began at 13:00 UTC on February 2. The company dates to 2020, the protocol mainnet to December 31, 2025. ZAMA adds fee, staking and governance mechanics to that existing confidentiality layer; the reviewed documents do not state that it is company equity or a claim on encrypted assets.

Five years of cryptography before the token

Rand Hindi and Pascal Paillier founded Zama in 2020. TFHE-rs, FHEVM, Concrete ML and threshold-key-management work preceded the token. On June 25, 2025, Zama unveiled the Confidential Blockchain Protocol and its first testnet while describing Ethereum mainnet and ZAMA as forthcoming.

The protocol is not presented as a new L1 or L2. Host-chain contracts emit FHE operations, coprocessors compute on encrypted data, the Gateway coordinates requests, and a threshold-MPC KMS handles authorized decryption. Application contracts decide who may decrypt, so confidentiality depends on each application's access rules.

Mainnet, staking and TGE were separate events

Protocol mainnet went live on December 31, 2025. Mainnet staking was announced on January 19, 2026 around 18 selected genesis operators—five FHE coprocessors and 13 KMS nodes—and Zama Auction became the first mainnet application with real value at stake on January 21.

The ZAMA TGE followed on February 2. Eligible claims opened at 12:00 UTC and exchange trading at 13:00 UTC. The official launch listed Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain and Solana token addresses. Broader EVM support, protocol support for Solana, GPU scaling, permissionless operation, ZK-MPC and ZK-FHE remain roadmap items where current documentation labels them as future work.

An inflationary utility token with operator controls

Official auction facts state a genesis supply of 11 billion ZAMA. The litepaper’s distribution table puts 20% in circulation at TGE: 12% public sale, 6% TGE campaigns and 2% liquidity. The remaining Treasury, Growth, Team, VC and Angel allocations follow two- or four-year schedules; Team, VC and Angel allocations have one-year cliffs. Fees are burned, while operator rewards are minted at an initially 5% annual rate, so genesis supply is not a permanent cap.

Genesis operation is selected rather than permissionless. Ordinary protocol changes require an operator majority; any operator may initiate an emergency pause or blacklist, while reversal requires multiple coprocessors. The Ethereum ABI exposes role-oriented admin, mint and minting-pause functions, but the cited explorer overview does not identify current role holders. Reviewed materials describe fees, staking and governance but do not state equity, reserve, redemption or encrypted-asset ownership rights.

How the project changed

2020
Zama company founded
Rand Hindi and Pascal Paillier founded the cryptography company; its FHE research and libraries predate the protocol and token.
2025-06-25
Protocol and testnet unveiled
Zama announced the Confidential Blockchain Protocol and first testnet while describing Ethereum mainnet and ZAMA as forthcoming.
2025-12-31
Protocol mainnet went live
The confidentiality layer entered mainnet before the token TGE; Zama Auction became its first real-value application on 2026-01-21.
2026-01-19
Mainnet staking announced live
Delegation opened around 18 selected genesis operators, with 5% initial annual emissions and a seven-day unbonding period.
2026-02-02
ZAMA TGE and trading launch
Eligible claims opened at 12:00 UTC and exchange trading began at 13:00 UTC; this token event, not the company or mainnet, is the 2026 launch.

What to verify before relying on the token story

Supply is inflationary: fees are burned, but operator rewards are minted at an initially 5% annual rate that governance can change; 80% of genesis allocations also unlock on multi-year schedules.
Genesis operation is concentrated in 18 selected operators. Ordinary changes require a majority, but any operator can initiate an emergency pause or blacklist.
Key security depends on 13 KMS nodes, a two-thirds-majority assumption and AWS Nitro Enclaves; ZK-MPC, larger committees and permissionless operation remain future improvements.
The Ethereum ABI exposes admin, minter and minting-pause interfaces, but the cited explorer overview does not establish current role holders; live roles and authorization enforcement require onchain inspection.
Reviewed materials describe fee, staking and governance utility but do not state equity, reserve, redemption or encrypted-asset ownership rights; protocol and token documentation can change.
Additional host chains, GPU throughput, a ZK-rollup Gateway, ZK-FHE and ASIC acceleration remain roadmap items rather than uniformly delivered functionality.

Evidence and primary sources

Last evidence review: 2026-08-22

What is Zama?

Zama is both a cryptography company founded in 2020 and the developer of the Zama Confidential Blockchain Protocol, an FHE-based confidentiality layer for existing public blockchains. The protocol and its testnet were unveiled on June 25, 2025, and mainnet went live on December 31, 2025; Zama is not presented as a new L1 or L2.

The separate 2026 launch was the ZAMA token generation event on February 2. Eligible claims opened at 12:00 UTC, while exchange trading began at 13:00 UTC. ZAMA is documented as the protocol's fee-and-staking token, connecting the already-live protocol to transferable token economics.

What problem does Zama solve?

Public blockchains normally reveal balances, transaction amounts and contract state. That transparency limits applications that need confidential financial terms, identities, bids or votes while still relying on public-chain execution and verifiability.

Zama addresses that problem by letting host-chain contracts operate on encrypted state through Fully Homomorphic Encryption. Confidentiality remains programmable: each application's contract specifies who may use or decrypt a value, so deploying on Zama does not by itself guarantee that an issuer cannot see data or that only one user controls decryption.

How does Zama work?

A contract on a supported host chain invokes the FHEVM library and emits work for FHE coprocessors. Coprocessors verify encrypted inputs and perform encrypted computations; Gateway contracts on a dedicated Arbitrum rollup coordinate verification, decryption requests and encrypted-value bridging; 13 KMS nodes use threshold MPC to produce authorized decryptions. At genesis, five FHE coprocessors and 13 KMS nodes formed a selected 18-operator set.

ZAMA pays USD-priced protocol fees for operations such as ZK proof-of-knowledge verification, ciphertext decryption and encrypted-value bridging. Fees are burned, while operator rewards are newly minted at an initially 5% annual emission rate. The verified Ethereum ABI exposes DEFAULT_ADMIN_ROLE, MINTER_ROLE and MINTING_PAUSER_ROLE together with grantRole, revokeRole, mint, pauseMinting and unpauseMinting; the cited explorer overview does not identify current role holders or, by itself, verify every live authorization path.

Key facts

Zama was founded in 2020 by Rand Hindi and Pascal Paillier; the company and its FHE libraries predate ZAMA.
The Confidential Blockchain Protocol and first testnet were unveiled on 2025-06-25; mainnet went live on 2025-12-31.
Mainnet staking was announced live on 2026-01-19 with 18 selected genesis operators: five FHE coprocessors and 13 KMS nodes.
On 2026-02-02, eligible ZAMA claims opened at 12:00 UTC and exchange trading began at 13:00 UTC.
Official auction facts state a genesis supply of 11,000,000,000 ZAMA. The litepaper says 20% circulated at TGE and the remaining allocations follow two- or four-year schedules, with one-year cliffs for Team, VCs and Angels.
ZAMA uses a burn-and-mint model: protocol fees are burned and operator rewards are minted at an initially 5% annual rate, so 11 billion is not a permanent supply cap.
Zama is a confidentiality layer over host chains, not a new L1 or L2; applications define who may decrypt each encrypted value.
The reviewed litepaper and launch materials describe fees, staking and protocol governance but do not state that ZAMA gives holders equity, reserve claims, redemption rights, or ownership of encrypted data or assets.

Official links

Official website Whitepaper Block explorer X / Twitter GitHub

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Frequently asked questions

What exactly launched on February 2, 2026?

The ZAMA token launched, not the company or protocol mainnet. Eligible claims opened at 12:00 UTC and exchange trading started at 13:00 UTC; Zama was founded in 2020 and its protocol mainnet had been live since 2025-12-31.

Is Zama its own blockchain?

The official litepaper describes Zama as a cross-chain confidentiality layer, not a new L1 or L2. Host-chain contracts emit FHE work, coprocessors compute on ciphertext, the Gateway coordinates requests, and KMS nodes perform threshold decryption.

What rights does ZAMA provide?

Reviewed materials describe payment of protocol fees, staking and protocol-governance mechanics. They do not state that holding ZAMA grants company equity, a reserve or redemption claim, or ownership of encrypted data or assets.

Is ZAMA capped at 11 billion tokens?

No permanent cap is stated. Official auction facts give 11 billion as the genesis supply, but fees are burned and operator rewards are minted at an initially 5% annual emission rate that governance can change.

Who controls minting and protocol emergencies?

The verified Ethereum ABI exposes role-oriented minting and minting-pause functions, but the cited overview does not identify current role holders. Separately, protocol documentation says any operator may initiate an emergency pause or blacklist, while reversal requires multiple coprocessors and ordinary changes require an operator majority.

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