Encrypted vs zk Smart Contracts Zero-knowledge proofs and Fully Homomorphic Encryption address privacy on blockchains from different angles. Understanding the distinction is important so as to not confuse the both. Zk-Smart Contracts (verification without exposure) Zero-knowledge proofs let a prover convince a verifier that a computation or statement is correct without revealing the underlying inputs. In many zk workflows, the heavy computation or the sensitive data remain off-chain, the zk proof is submitted on-chain to attest correctness. This model is powerful when the goal is to publish a small, verifiable statement about a larger private computation. Encrypted Smart Contracts ( compute while data stays encrypted) Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) enables arbitrary computation directly on ciphertexts so that the resulting ciphertext, once decrypted by an authorized party, matches the result of the same computation on plaintext. In simple terms, FHE lets systems compute without ever revealing the inputs. The original FHE construction and bootstrapping idea are due to Craig Gentry (2009), which set the theoretical foundation for practical work that followed. @zama_fhe's approach uses FHE to bring this capability to smart contracts, by which developers write contracts in Solidity using an FHE library (fhEVM), host chains emit pointers and events, and off-chain coprocessors perform the FHE work and store ciphertexts. The protocol is explicitly designed so that encrypted computation is verifiable and orchestrated rather than hidden.