Zama, an open source cryptography firm headquartered in Paris, France, has revealed the details of its forthcoming public token auction, scheduled to commence on January 21, 2026. This auction is distinctive for its deployment of a single price sealed bid Dutch auction model, which incorporates the company's proprietary Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) technology to maintain encrypted bids on-chain during the bidding window.
The auction timeline indicates that registration is presently open, with the bidding period lasting from January 21 at 08:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to January 24, 2026. Following the auction, the token generation event is slated for February 2, 2026, at which point participants will gain access to fully unlocked tokens acquired in the sale.
Prospective participants must undergo a registration and verification process before engaging in the auction. This involves verifying their identity and registering a single wallet address, which is required to match the wallet used to place bids during the auction period.
Bidding will be conducted using USDT tokens originating from the verified wallet address. Participants must designate both the total amount they wish to spend and a limit price, specifying the highest price per token they intend to pay. After the auction concludes, a single clearing price will be determined, and bids with limit prices at or above this threshold will be fulfilled at the clearing price. Any funds related to bids below the clearing price or excess amounts from bids above the clearing price will be refunded to participants' wallets.
A core innovation in this auction is the application of Fully Homomorphic Encryption, which ensures that bid data remains confidential and encrypted while enabling price discovery. Neither other auction participants nor the auction operators will have visibility into individual bids during the auction period, preserving bidder privacy.
Tokens resulting from market-clearing bids are expected to be available for withdrawal without any lockup period immediately upon the token generation event date on February 2, 2026.
The auction is compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) wallets, including popular options such as MetaMask and any WalletConnect-enabled wallets. The stipulation remains that the bidding address must match the registered and verified address to participate.
Zama's mission centers on advancing privacy technologies via Fully Homomorphic Encryption, facilitating end-to-end encryption for internet communications and blockchain applications. Their platform enables developers and data scientists to integrate FHE capabilities into applications without requiring specialized cryptography expertise.
For further details or inquiries, the press and communications director, Julia André, can be contacted via email at julia.andre@zama.ai.