EZEE-Powered 0dapps Lay The Foundation For An Ecosystem Of Private DeFi Applications
Blockchain transactions are often said to be anonymous because the user is only identified by their wallet, and they don’t have to provide any personal details that might link them to that wallet.
But the reality is somewhat different, as there are multiple ways in which someone’s crypto wallet might be linked to their identity. And their crypto wallet will reveal their entire transaction history, as well as exactly how many assets that person currently owns. That’s because crypto transactions are immutably stamped on the blockchain’s history for anyone to see.
Due to this, it can be argued that traditional finance is inherently more private. While the bank may know your identity, it won’t reveal your transaction details to anyone else publicly, with the exception being law enforcement and tax authorities in case someone believes you’re up to no good.
Blockchain’s fundamentally transparent architecture means that if someone uses crypto to buy a coffee, they’re required to disclose almost everything about their finances, including their income, net worth, and spending habits. Blockchain transactions are not private, and until this problem is resolved, it’s unlikely crypto will ever achieve mass adoption.
A lot of effort has been put into solving blockchain’s privacy problems, and one of the most exciting new initiatives is Silent Protocol’s new Web3 privacy wrapper, which uses an abstraction technique known as EZEE (Economical Zero-knowledge Execution Environment) to enable full anonymity when transacting with any EVM smart contract.
Silent Protocol makes it possible for anyone to interact anonymously with DeFi apps such as Uniswap, Aave, Curve, Balancer, Year, Ribbon, or any other protocol, without revealing any details about your transactions. It does so through a novel zkSNARK technique that can be linked to any existing DeFi app without needing to pool transactions like other privacy-preserving blockchain protocols do. The big advantage is there’s no need to use additional tools. Silent Protocol makes privacy simple via its EZEE framework deployed on what it calls “0dapps”, which enables users to interact with any smart contract at 1:1 synchronicity without revealing their wallet address or transaction details.
How Is the EZEE Framework Different?
Existing data privacy systems are hindered by something known as “state denial,” which essentially restricts them to dApps with a constant global state. As such, existing privacy frameworks are “non-composable,” meaning they cannot be used in more complex transactions involving multiple dApps because they don’t allow those dApps to share their state with any other dApp. This problem prevents the creation of a more widespread ecosystem of private dApps.
Silent Protocol sets out to solve this problem with EZEE, which makes it possible for smart contracts to be updated even when they’re unable to share their state with other dApps. EZEE works by dividing the system state into constant, expendable states, and segregating the user’s encrypted account state into multiple secondary account states. By doing this, EZEE supports the creation of target execution silos within the execution layer, which can interact with the end smart contracts while also accessing their global shared state. This is done using a technique known as EZEE Signals, which are application-dependent anonymous asset transfer channels. Through these, it’s possible to aggregate spatial states stored in different execution siloes back to the encryption layer, paving the way for more data privacy that’s far more fluid.
Under The Hood
The EZEE framework is made up of two primary components – the encryption layer and the execution layer. The encryption layer provides data privacy, which can then be passed to the execution layer to achieve pseudo-functional privacy. In practice, users must interact with smart contracts via 0dapps, which uses EZEE Signals to create the required programmable access channels that secure their privacy.
0dapps, or zero-knowledge decentralized applications, are client-facing applications powered by EZEE and integrated with Silent Protocol’s Snark-powered encryption layer. Using 0dapps, it’s possible to interact with traditional smart contracts in a privacy-preserving way. With 0dapps, the user’s data remains private but retains the key properties of immutability and public verifiability necessary for blockchain transactions to be verified.
With Silent Protocol, users operate from its encryption layer, which allows them to segregate and break down the state of their primary account. They create secondary accounts tied to the 0dapp, providing them with metadata and network-level privacy together with the ability to interact with standard DeFi dApps. It means users can interact with dApps without creating zk-proofs each time, creating an EZEE environment that allows them to execute smart contract calls with full anonymity. Users can operate in 0dapps that run concurrently with one another, allowing their state to be aggregated back to the encryption layer via EZEE Signals.
In A Nutshell
Silent Protocol’s 0dapps can be thought of as endpoints that allow users to access and interact with smart contracts via EZEE in a fully private and anonymous way. They enable cost-effective smart contract interactions with privacy at scale. In this way, Silent Protocol is laying the groundwork for an ecosystem of privacy preserving DeFi applications that don’t reveal any information about their users.