Dialogue with @pascal_paillier - the father of Homomorphic Encryption, the technical soul of Zama

In the world of encryption and cryptography, there are not many who can truly rewrite the underlying rules, and Pascal Paillier is one of those legendary figures.

He is the co-founder and CTO of @zama_fhe, and to put it simply, he is the technological soul of Zama. He is not just a researcher but has also personally brought research results to the industrial sector, which is quite challenging.

Academics and Standards
As early as 1999, Paillier developed the "Paillier encryption system," which is the first practical additive Homomorphic Encryption scheme that allows data to be computed while in an encrypted state. While others were still discussing theories at that time, he had already paved the way for future generations. Nowadays, almost everywhere privacy computing, voting systems, and blockchain privacy transactions are discussed, his scheme is referenced.

What's even more impressive is that he is also the person who sets the standards. The international standard ISO/IEC 18033-6 is edited by him, and basically everyone working on Homomorphic Encryption globally has to follow the rules he wrote.

In other words, he draws the bottom line for the industry.

Technology Implementation
Paillier did not stop at the paper; he brought the technology to reality through Zama. The Zama team optimized the multi-bit bootstrapping of the TFHE algorithm, transforming the previously "usable but too slow" FHE into a solution that supports smart contracts.

By September 2025, Zama has directly pulled the FHE bootstrapping operation to the millisecond level (945 microseconds), which is the industry's "iPhone moment." Personally, I think this is a landmark event because it means that confidential smart contracts can really run in real time.

This is not just beautifully performing data; Zama is also promoting industry standards such as ERC-7984, the Confidential Token Association, and so on, advancing both technology and regulations simultaneously.

My feelings
I think @pascal_paillier is the kind of versatile person who can write papers, draft standards, and also implement products. He is not an ivory tower scholar but someone who is genuinely building the real world of privacy computing.

With the Zama mainnet about to launch and the TGE of the $ZAMA token approaching, this company may upgrade from being the "academic technology leader" to the "infrastructure for Web3 confidential computing."

If Bitcoin redefined "money" and Ethereum redefined "computation", I believe Paillier and Zama are likely to redefine "privacy". This closed loop from theory to industry is actually the most valuable story in the entire encryption industry.

#ZamaCreatorProgram FHE