Soda Labs Raises $3 Million To Bring Private Computation To Public Blockchains

What is Soda Labs and its Technology?

Soda Labs is a startup that has spent roughly two and a half years developing a cryptographic system based on garbled circuits and multiparty computation. This technology, often shortened to GC-MPC, enables applications to perform calculations on private data without exposing the underlying information to everyone watching the chain.

How Does it Work?

The system uses established cryptographic components including AES and SHA-256 and is designed to run on ordinary cloud CPUs rather than requiring specialized hardware. This makes it more accessible and deployable for financial institutions. The technology is also designed to be interoperable with existing public blockchain ecosystems.

The Problem Soda is Solving

Public blockchains are very good at proving what happened, but they struggle with proving rules were followed without publishing every piece of data involved. Financial institutions need ways to maintain confidentiality while remaining connected to public blockchains. This is where Soda Labs' technology comes in, aiming to address the contradiction between transparency and confidentiality in public blockchains.

The Future of Private Computation

Soda Labs' challenge is proving that its cryptographic approach can deliver privacy without making applications too slow or complex to use. If public blockchains are going to host more conventional finance, the networks may need to learn an unusual skill. They need to remain verifiable without making everything visible.