Zama Acquires TokenOps to Roll Out Confidential & Fully Compliant Distributions, Airdrops, and Vesting

Paris, France, May 21st, 2026, Chainwire

Zama integrates enterprise-grade token platform to deploy Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) and eliminate front-running and signaling risks for institutional token issuers.

Zama, the fastest growing confidentiality protocol for onchain finance, today announced the acquisition of TokenOps, the enterprise-grade token lifecycle management platform. With over $2 billion in processed distributions, TokenOps provides the critical infrastructure for vesting, cap table management, and compliance for the industry’s leading networks.

While transparency is often cited as a feature of blockchain, for institutions it remains a structural barrier. The acquisition marks a landmark step in Zama’s mission to build the Confidential Layer for onchain finance.

Solving the Transparency Liability

Current token operations are public-by-default, exposing strategic playbooks to traders in real-time. This signaling risk has a measurable cost: analysis shows that 90% of tokens underperform the market within 30 days of a transparent release (Keyrock), with average price drawdowns reaching 17% within 72 hours of major supply shocks.

By bringing FHE to the core of token infrastructure, Zama is replacing strategic leakage with private-by-design operations, transforming public blockchains into secure environments for sovereign and institutional capital.

A Private-by-Design Lifecycle

Through TokenOps, issuers can now execute the full token lifecycle while keeping sensitive details such as allocations, release curves, and recipient identities, encrypted onchain using the ERC-7984 confidential token standard.

For Fund Managers: Major investors can receive and manage distributions without broadcasting their positions, eliminating signaling and front-running risk.
For Compliance: Every operation remains fully auditable. Regulators can be granted selective access to encrypted data, mirroring the standards of Basel and MiFID without public exposure.

“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.”

Proven in Production: $ZAMA and KAIO

The technology is already validated through two major 2026 deployments:

KAIO’s distribution of $KAIO, the institutional RWA protocol created by WebN Group and Nomura’s Laser Digital. For KAIO’s partners, including BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, and Brevan Howard, FHE-powered distribution was the only viable path to launching on a public blockchain without exposing private fund data.
Zama will distribute its own $ZAMA token confidentially to its team and investors through TokenOps’ confidential vesting solution on Ethereum.

“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 Capita.

A Self-Custodial Solution for Token Issuers

Following the acquisition, TokenOps will continue to operate as an independent brand, maintaining its commitment to cross-chain, self-custodial infrastructure. Its confidential token lifecycle solutions will remain available to every token issuer, with additional features added over time to streamline not just distribution but also portfolio management for recipients.

“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.”

About Zama

Zama is the fastest growing confidentiality protocol for onchain finance. By leveraging Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), it enables digital assets to be issued, managed, and traded privately on existing public blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana. Founded by FHE pioneer Dr. Pascal Paillier and entrepreneur Dr. Rand Hindi, Zama brings together one of the world’s largest teams of FHE researchers and engineers and supports a global ecosystem of developers building confidential applications. zama.org

About TokenOps

TokenOps is the enterprise-grade platform for confidential token operations. By leveraging the Zama Protocol, TokenOps enables projects to automate distributions, vesting, and airdrops with full onchain encryption. We bridge the gap between blockchain transparency and institutional privacy, ensuring sensitive allocation data remains protected yet cryptographically verifiable. TokenOps.xyz.