On February 2, 2026, Binance officially expanded its ecosystem by announcing the platform will list Zama (ZAMA), marking a pivotal moment for on-chain privacy. ZAMA is also listed with the “Seed Tag”, signaling both its innovative potential and inherent volatility. As global regulators tighten their grip on data transparency, Zama’s arrival offers a timely technological counterweight.
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Zama Protocol represents the vanguard of a new era in blockchain technology: the era of “confidentiality-by-design.” Founded in 2020 by Dr. Pascal Paillier, inventor of the Paillier cryptosystem, and Dr. Rand Hindi, Zama has evolved from a deep-tech research lab into a market powerhouse. While the blockchain industry historically struggled with a paradox where transparency destroyed privacy, Zama eliminates this conflict through Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). Unlike traditional encryption, FHE allows developers to perform computations on encrypted data without ever revealing the underlying information. As a result, sensitive data remains encrypted throughout its lifecycle: during storage, transit, and, most importantly, during computation.
Furthermore, the protocol functions as a cross-chain confidentiality layer, acting as an “invisibility cloak” for assets across various networks. Zama uses the fhEVM (Fully Homomorphic Ethereum Virtual Machine), allowing Ethereum-compatible chains to process encrypted transaction data directly. Therefore, developers can write smart contracts in Solidity using encrypted data types, ensuring that sensitive information, such as trade sizes or payroll, remains shielded from public view while staying verifiable. Notably, TFHE-rs, a high-performance Rust library, and Concrete, a framework that compiles regular Python or Rust code into FHE programs, complement the architecture of Zama without requiring deep cryptographic expertise.
Beyond blockchain, Zama is aggressively expanding into the AI sector with Concrete ML, supporting inference on encrypted data. The protocol allows machine learning models to analyze medical records or financial data without accessing the raw files. In addition, Zama’s technology utilizes lattice-based cryptography that remains secure even against future quantum computer attacks. By offering a “defense-in-depth” approach, combining FHE with Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and a 2/3 majority Threshold Protocol, Zama ensures that no single entity can ever access the underlying private keys.
The ZAMA token serves as the heartbeat of the protocol’s decentralized security model and its primary mechanism for value capture. Specifically, ZAMA operates on a “burn-and-mint” model designed to align the interests of users and network operators. As the essential economic engine of the network, the ZAMA token facilitates transaction fee payments for all FHE computations while requiring node operators to stake tokens to participate in the Threshold Protocol. Moreover, to align long-term value with network activity, Zama creates deflationary pressure by burning 100% of all generated fees.
Learn more: What is ERC-20? A 2026 Guide to Token Standards
To support a team of 100 professionals, including nearly 40 PhDs, who have collectively optimized FHE speeds by over 100x, Zama has a strong funded history:
Spot trading on Binance officially commenced today, February 2, 2026, at 13:00 (UTC), providing the protocol with an immediate infusion of global liquidity. To manage the transition for early adopters, Binance allows Alpha users to transfer their holdings from Alpha Accounts to Spot Accounts exactly 15 minutes prior to the opening bell, ensuring a seamless migration for those who participated in the pre-listing phase.
