IoTeX launches confidential computing hardware stack

Hardware and chip technology provider ARM Research and Web3 platform IoTeX have brought confidential computing of encrypted data to IoTeX’s DePIN stack.

DePIN, short for decentralized physical infrastructure networks, is designed so that contributors can build out decentralized infrastructure for any individual or company to use in return for financial compensation. 

The latest functionality to join the DePIN stack will be confidential computing, allowing developers to compute encrypted data. This new framework is written in Rust.

Dr. Xinxin Fan, IoTeX co-founder and head of blockchain, told Blockworks that confidential computing is a hardware-backed security and privacy enhancing technology designed specifically for protecting data as it’s in use.

This means that a computation system will be able to derive knowledge from encrypted data without ever revealing what the information inside is. Although there are similarities between confidential computing and zero-knowledge proofs, Fan notes that there are differences. 

“Zero-knowledge technology roots its security in mathematics, whereas confidential computing relies on specific security features of hardware,” Fan said, adding that he believes confidential computing is “much more efficient” than zk proofs. 

Read more: Zero-knowledge proof systems have room for improvement, say cryptography researchers

IoTeX’s indoor security camera, Ucam, will be the first physical proof of concept for this collaboration. Ucam users will not need to expose their private home information to manufacturers. 

This is a step towards both personal privacy and privacy on a larger scale, IoTeX explained in a blog post. Individuals no longer need to give unencrypted data to manufacturers or cloud service providers. Organizations, on the other hand, will be able to collect insights without exposing the private information of their clients through trusted node servers.

Using Ucams as an example, security providers will be able to share insights on home invasions with a security firm without having to show the security firm the actual images of their client’s homes, IoTeX said. 

Read more: ‘Drive-to-earn’ app aims to bootstrap ‘dynamic maps’ with crypto rewards

Another example of this would be Web3 health app Healthblocks. The company has licensed private fitness data and sent them to health researchers for analysis through private computing. This means that these researchers will be able to anonymously analyze data without knowing which client this information belongs to.

“This industry recognized Arm PSA certification establishes a solid security foundation for bringing smart devices to Web3 in a trustworthy manner, further revolutionizing the decentralized IoT industry and giving IoTeX a bigger lead within the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN),” Fan said. “It will also significantly challenge the corporations currently monopolizing the industry, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, to mention a few.”

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