EZEE

Architecture of EZEE

Economical Zero-Knowledge Execution Environment (EZEE):

Origin:

Building a system for composable privacy requires avoiding the encryption of all user data, as this prevents direct state sharing and limits interoperability. Instead, a framework must enable users to access aggregated state data and interact with smart contracts, making privacy-preserving systems more user-friendly.

Silent Protocol builds EZEE on the foundation of Zether, a framework where users store encrypted balances and interact with smart contracts that execute computations on-chain. Zether’s “lock method” allows users to lock their encrypted Zether account into arbitrary contracts, passing arguments via ciphertexts to call a target function. This updates the user’s Zether account state through purpose-crafted contracts that use homomorphic encryption to ensure privacy. However, because these end contracts rely on the user’s Zether account, they cannot process inter-function calls with other contracts, restricting computation to local data and causing State Denial.

What is EZEE?:

EZEE is a purpose-built framework designed to eliminate State Denial and enable "composable privacy" for the first time. In Zether, end applications require users to lock their encrypted Zether account to process operations, forcing the use of ZK proofs to update system states. Zether operates in two interdependent silos: the encryption silo, which holds user data and assets in encrypted form, and the execution silo, where purpose-crafted smart contracts enable confidential calls. These silos are tightly coupled due to Zether’s lock and unlock methods, limiting composability.

EZEE conceptualization

EZEE evolves Zether by decoupling the encryption and execution layers through a novel protocol called EZEE Signals. This allows end contracts to operate without relying on encrypted inputs while still ensuring privacy. EZEE’s encryption layer enables users to maintain a primary account with private, confidential state data, using a Monostatic environment with predefined instructions for updates. Within this layer, users can create secondary base layer addresses from their primary account to interact with target applications in the execution layer. By splitting their encrypted primary account balance into unencrypted secondary account balances, users can engage with applications while preserving anonymity. After computation, the encryption layer aggregates the secondary account states back into the primary account.

The execution layer contains standard smart contracts (e.g., on Ethereum or other base chains) with public data, allowing users to post computation requests via secondary addresses. These addresses publicly reflect state changes while maintaining user anonymity, enabling the aggregation of states back into the primary account. EZEE Signals facilitates this by establishing an anonymous asset transfer channel between the encryption and execution layers, supporting splitting flows. This framework allows users to keep their account state confidential, post anonymous calls, and access the global shared state while interacting with smart contracts. Unlike traditional ZK systems that encrypt all user data, EZEE enables global state access without compromising privacy, supporting multiple end applications and fostering ecosystem-wide composability. Through EZEE and EZEE Signals, users can store encrypted data and make anonymous calls to target smart contracts without relying on encrypted inputs or ZK proofs.