Horizen

What is the project about?  Horizen is a modular privacy-first platform designed to make privacy technology, such as zero-knowledge proofs and TEEs accessible and usable across the web. Originally launched in 2017 as a fair launch, non-ICO project, Horizen is now undergoing a major evolution with the launch of Horizen 2.0, a next-generation Layer 3 (L3) appchain deployed on Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 developed by Coinbase.

Horizen 2.0 is built as an Ethereum-aligned Layer 3 appchain on Base, inheriting Ethereum's security while implementing its own application-level integrity guarantees. Key components of Horizen’s security model include: Ethereum-Aligned Security: As an appchain deployed on Base, Horizen 2.0 benefits from Base’s rollup security and settlement on Ethereum, ensuring robust finality and composability with other L2 and L3 applications.

Simplified and Secure Architecture: Unlike Horizen’s previous iterations (which used a hybrid PoW/PoS model), Horizen 2.0 focuses on application-level security, decentralization of its privacy layers, and composability with existing infrastructure — reducing complexity and increasing user safety.

Decentralized Privacy Stack: Horizen’s focus on decentralizing privacy infrastructure (e.g., decentralized proof generation) allows for modular, secure applications that uphold data confidentiality without compromising performance. What makes your project unique? Privacy-first Approach: Horizen integrates a diverse stack of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) — including zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), trusted execution environments (TEEs), attribute-based encryption (ABE), multi-party computation (MPC), and fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) — to deliver scalable, flexible, and future-ready privacy solutions across its platform.