That day I wrote an article about @aztecnetwork's public sale mechanism, and today I'm writing one about @zama. If Aztec represents the continuation of Ethereum’s legitimacy in the privacy narrative, then Zama is the dazzling new star of privacy. From FHE (Fully Homomorphic Encryption) technology to its plugin features, I’m even more optimistic about its future. On January 12, Zama will launch its public sale, so today let’s take a look at its mechanism.

Zama’s public sale is a Sealed-Bid Dutch Auction (Sealed-Bid Dutch Auction), running on the Ethereum mainnet.

Date: January 12, 2026 - January 15, 2026.

Phase 1: Privacy Stablecoin Participation
To participate in the Zama auction, you need to hold privacy stablecoins on Ethereum, which can be obtained by privatizing USDC, USDT, or DAI. So the public sale itself offers users a direct experience of Zama’s privacy technology—killing two birds with one stone.

Phase 2: Submit Bids
After the auction starts, there are four days to submit bids. Each bid includes the price and quantity of $zama tokens you wish to purchase. The price is public, but the quantity is confidential. You can submit bids at any price, any number of times, and cancel at any time during the auction. Zama believes that “the wisdom of the crowd” works only when predictions are independent and confidential, so the bid quantities are encrypted with FHE—another practical use of Zama’s privacy technology.

Phase 3: Settlement Price and Allocation
After the auction ends, all bids will be matched in descending order of price. The final matched price is the clearing price. All participants who bid above this level will settle at the clearing price. The entire calculation process is performed using Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) technology.

Phase 4: Token Claim
Once the allocation plan is determined, participants can claim both $ZAMA tokens and refunds. All claimed tokens are fully unlocked and can be immediately spent, transferred, staked, or delegated to validator nodes.

Problems Solved:
1. Herding and whale manipulation
2. Winner’s curse
3. Testing privacy technology

Although Zama’s public sale mechanism may not be as sophisticated as Uniswap CCA, it lets users experience its privacy technology firsthand, which is likely the first real use of privacy tech for most users. Personally, I’m very much looking forward to it.

@zama #ZamaCreatorProgram