Many Web3 apps still face the same structural problem. Public blockchains are transparent by default, which is great for verification but terrible for anything that requires secrecy, protected data, or private logic. Auctions leak bids, games leak strategy, AI agents leak prompts, and business workflows leak sensitive inputs.
Oasis Network addresses this by adding a confidential execution layer to the familiar EVM model.
What Oasis does differently
Oasis separates consensus from execution and allows specialized runtimes called ParaTimes. One of these runtimes, Sapphire, is a confidential EVM designed for privacy preserving smart contracts.
Developers still write Solidity. They still use Hardhat **or **Foundry. Deployment feels like any other EVM chain.
The key difference is that contract state, calldata, and execution are encrypted and processed inside trusted execution environments. Validators cannot read plaintext inputs or storage.
This turns privacy from an application level workaround into a native runtime feature.
Why this matters in practice
Confidential execution unlocks use cases that are fragile or impossible on fully public chains:
- Sealed bid auctions where bids stay hidden until reveal
- Onchain games with hidden state
- Private DAO voting with verifiable results
- AI agents whose strategies and prompts must remain secret
- Enterprise workflows that need verifiable execution without exposing documents
Instead of trying to hide data offchain and only posting final results, the sensitive logic itself can run onchain while remaining confidential.
Dev experience
One of the strongest points is that Sapphire does not require learning a new programming language or cryptographic framework.
A normal Solidity contract like a counter or registry becomes confidential automatically when deployed to Sapphire. Private variables are not just compiler hints. Storage and transaction inputs are encrypted at runtime.
A typical workflow looks like:
- Configure Sapphire RPC in MetaMask
- Fund wallet via the testnet faucet
- Create a standard Hardhat project
- Install the Sapphire helper plugin
- Deploy Solidity contracts normally
From there, transaction calldata is encrypted locally and only decrypted inside the runtime.
Positioning in the ecosystem
Oasis works well as a confidential coprocessor rather than a replacement chain.
Public settlement, liquidity, and composability can remain on Ethereum or L2s. Sensitive computation, private registries, hidden metadata, or sealed commitments can run on Sapphire. Results can then be bridged or proven back to public chains.
This hybrid model lets builders keep transparency where they want it and add privacy where they need it.
Current direction
The Oasis ecosystem is increasingly focused on privacy for AI, data marketplaces, and confidential DeFi. Sapphire is already live and usable today, which makes it one of the few production confidential EVM environments rather than a research concept.
For developers who already know Solidity, the barrier to testing confidential smart contracts is extremely low.
Curious to hear from builders here. have you actually ran into situations where onchain transparency broke your design? And what would you build first if private execution was available by default?
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