Paris, France, May 21st, 2026
Zama, the protocol focused on confidentiality for onchain finance, announced it has acquired TokenOps, an enterprise-grade token lifecycle management platform. TokenOps has processed in excess of $2 billion in distributions and provides infrastructure for vesting, cap table administration, and compliance workflows used by leading networks.
Why the deal matters
While public ledgers are widely praised for transparency, that same openness can be a barrier for institutional participants. The acquisition is presented by Zama as a foundational move in its effort to create a Confidential Layer for onchain finance, combining TokenOps' operational tooling with Zama's Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) technology to reduce information leakage that can harm token issuers.
The firms point to a structural problem in current token operations: token movements and vesting schedules are typically visible by default, making strategic plans observable to market participants. The article cites analysis indicating that 90% of tokens underperform the market within 30 days following a transparent release, and that average price drawdowns can reach 17% within 72 hours of major supply events. By embedding FHE into token infrastructure, Zama aims to make these operations private-by-design while still operating on public blockchains.
How confidentiality is applied
Under the combined approach, TokenOps' tooling will allow issuers to conduct the full token lifecycle - distributions, vesting, and related cap table tasks - while keeping sensitive details encrypted onchain. The confidential mechanics rely on the ERC-7984 confidential token standard, enabling allocations, release curves, and recipient identities to remain encrypted yet verifiable on public ledgers.
The firms describe specific benefits for institutional participants and compliance functions:
- Fund managers can receive and manage distributions without publicly broadcasting positions, reducing signaling and front-running risk.
- Compliance workflows remain auditable; regulators can be granted selective access to encrypted data in a manner the companies say mirrors standards such as Basel and MiFID, while avoiding full public exposure.
Deployments validating the approach
Zama notes that its technology has already seen production use in two major 2026 deployments. One example is the distribution of $KAIO for the KAIO protocol, an institutional RWA initiative created by WebN Group and Nomura’s Laser Digital. For KAIO’s partners - including BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, and Brevan Howard - the firms say FHE-powered distributions were used to launch on a public chain without revealing private fund details.
Zama also intends to use TokenOps' confidential vesting tooling to distribute its own $ZAMA token privately to team members and investors on Ethereum.
Leadership perspectives
"In the legacy onchain world, transparency was a bug disguised as a feature. For an institution, a transparent ledger is an open book for competitors," said Rand Hindi, Co-Founder and CEO of Zama. "Our goal is to make confidentiality the default state for every financial transaction onchain. Unlike solutions using opaque private chains, Zama adds privacy to existing public chains, enabling financial service providers and asset managers to operate onchain with the same level of confidentiality and compliance as they are used to offchain."
"Public blockchains have been missing a critical piece of institutional infrastructure: privacy. With over $5 billion under management and significant token positions across the portfolio, we know firsthand that one of the biggest challenges at this scale is avoiding signaling risk when moving allocations to exchanges or executing OTC. Confidential transfers and OTC swaps bring onchain markets closer to how serious capital actually operates. Zama is leading the way in building the privacy layer this industry needs, and this is a very meaningful acquisition." said Paul Veradittakit, Managing Partner at Pantera Capital.
"Privacy was the number one demand we could not meet with transparent infrastructure," said Fabio Mancini, Co-Founder and CEO of TokenOps. "Joining Zama allows us to replace information leakage with institutional-grade security. The pipeline for confidential finance is ready to scale."
Operational model post-acquisition
Following the acquisition, TokenOps will continue to operate under its existing brand and maintain its cross-chain, self-custodial approach. The companies say TokenOps' confidential lifecycle solutions will remain available to all token issuers and that new features will be introduced over time to support distributions and recipient portfolio management.
About the companies
Zama markets itself as a confidentiality protocol for onchain finance that applies Fully Homomorphic Encryption to allow issuance, management, and trading of digital assets privately on public blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana. It was founded by FHE pioneer Dr. Pascal Paillier and entrepreneur Dr. Rand Hindi and claims to support a global ecosystem of developers building confidential applications. The company website is zama.org.
TokenOps is described as an enterprise-grade platform for confidential token operations that leverages the Zama Protocol to automate distributions, vesting, and airdrops with onchain encryption, aiming to protect sensitive allocation data while keeping operations cryptographically verifiable. The company website is TokenOps.xyz.
Contact
PR & Communications Director: Julia André, Zama - [email protected]
Note: The article presents the companies' descriptions and quoted remarks as provided by the parties involved.