PRIVACY
How privacy works
Privacy on Sedona is hardware-enforced. Validators see only ciphertext, not your wallet, not your trade size, not the order. This is what's actually happening.
Most products hand you a checkbox labelled "private" and hope you don't ask what it means. Sedona is different. The privacy is enforced by the network itself, not by a setting you can toggle off, and not by a promise someone makes about their database. Here's the real mechanism, in plain terms.
The mechanism
Seismic, the network Sedona runs on, runs every validator node inside a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). Think of a TEE as a sealed box built into the CPU. Even the operator of the machine cannot see what's happening inside it. Your transaction enters the box encrypted, runs there, and only the final state leaves.
In one line
Your trade is decrypted only inside the enclave. Period.
From you
Encrypted transaction
Inside Seismic
Decrypted, executed, re-sealed
To the chain
Settled state only
This is a hardware-based trust model, not zero-knowledge cryptography. It is faster, it works for arbitrary computation, and it relies on the TEE manufacturer's security model holding up. For the deeper protocol details, see the Seismic documentation.
What happens when you swap
Four steps run end to end, usually in a few seconds.
Encrypt
Your client encrypts the transaction details using the network's public key before it ever leaves your device.
Broadcast
The encrypted transaction is sent to the network. Validators see only ciphertext.
Execute inside the enclave
The TEE decrypts the transaction, executes the trade, and writes only the resulting state back to the public chain.
Read with a signed request
Reads of private state require a signed request, so you can read your own data but other people cannot read yours.
What this isn't
Hardware-enforced privacy is a specific thing. It is not the same as the other technologies people sometimes conflate it with.
| What people sometimes assume | What Sedona actually offers |
|---|---|
| Zero-knowledge cryptography | Sedona uses TEEs, not ZK proofs. The trust model is hardware-based, not cryptographic. |
| Anonymity | Sedona protects your activity, not your identity. Your wallet's existence on public chains is still observable. |
| Custody of your funds | You hold your keys. Privacy is about visibility, not control. |
| Pre-confirmation privacy | Trade details stay encrypted before and through settlement. The fact that a trade happened in a pool becomes public after settlement. |