Paris, France, June 18th, 2026
Zama, a confidentiality protocol aimed at private onchain finance, today announced a technical partnership with Morpho and Steakhouse Financial to deploy the Steakhouse Confidential USDC Prime vault - the first DeFi yield product designed specifically for confidential USDC stablecoins (cUSDC) on Ethereum. The initiative integrates Zama’s privacy infrastructure with Morpho’s decentralized lending protocol and Steakhouse’s existing Prime USDC vault architecture.
The collaboration is intended to address a long-standing barrier to institutional participation in decentralized finance: the public visibility of transactions on blockchains. Market participants such as corporate treasuries and asset managers often refrain from onchain allocation because visible balances and real-time flows can disclose yield strategies and invite front-running and competitive scrutiny, potentially eroding returns. By enabling a shielded form of USDC that keeps holdings and transfer amounts encrypted while still operating on Ethereum, the partners aim to give institutional allocators the ability to earn yield without publicly revealing positions.
How the integration works
- Shielding assets: Zama provides the capability to convert standard USDC into a shielded cUSDC variant. According to the announcement, balances and transfer amounts are encrypted onchain, with Zama’s solution operating directly on Ethereum and avoiding the need for cross-chain bridges. The shielded token is described as compatible with standard EVM wallets and includes built-in compliance features as well as auditability of the shielded supply.
- Depositing into Morpho: Once converted to cUSDC, tokens can be deposited into existing Morpho USDC vaults, including Steakhouse’s Prime USDC vault. Deposits in cUSDC are said to inherit Morpho’s security and capital efficiency characteristics, effectively allowing shielded assets to participate in established lending strategies.
The announcement positions the confidential Steakhouse USDC Prime vault as the first live product in what the partners describe as a broader roadmap for confidential yield products across other stablecoins and asset types, using Morpho as the composable lending layer.
Voices from the partnership
"Until now, operating on a public blockchain meant exposing your entire financial playbook to your competitors," said Dr. Rand Hindi, Co-founder and CEO of Zama. "By bringing Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to core financial primitives like lending vaults, we are proving that privacy and decentralization are no longer mutually exclusive. This partnership with Morpho and Steakhouse Financial marks the official launch of the Confidential DeFi category on Ethereum, an essential paradigm shift that will finally allow institutional capital to move fully onchain."
"One thing that we keep hearing from institutions is the demand for confidentiality onchain," said Merlin Egalite, Co-founder of Morpho. "Zama’s confidentiality stack built on top of Morpho allows institutions to allocate into Morpho Vaults just like any allocation onchain without compromising operational privacy."
"The economy is stablecoinizing fast. Allocators and corporate treasuries are increasingly looking to access stablecoin-based financial products. For many, the challenge is visibility: public blockchains expose balances and flows to competitors and front-runners. Steakhouse USDC Prime, our oldest vault on Morpho, is designed to be highly liquid and risk-conscious. Zama’s confidentiality layer integrates directly into that framework, allowing institutions to access the same strategy without broadcasting their positions. Privacy where it is needed, with compliance and auditability intact", said Sébastien Derivaux, Co-founder of Steakhouse.
Operational and technical notes
The partners say the integration simplifies a traditionally complex cryptographic workflow into a single user experience. Users will be able to shield USDC into cUSDC on Ethereum, retain auditability and compliance controls, and then deposit the shielded tokens into Morpho-powered vaults to earn yield. The confidential version of the Steakhouse USDC Prime vault is scheduled to open for deposits on June 23, 2026 via the Zama app.
The initial vault integration is presented as a template for subsequent confidential yield products targeting other stablecoins and confidential assets, all leveraging Morpho’s lending primitives.
About the parties
Zama is described in the announcement as a confidentiality protocol focused on onchain finance that leverages Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to enable private issuance, management and trading of digital assets on public blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana. The company is said to have been founded by FHE pioneer Dr. Pascal Paillier and Dr. Rand Hindi, and to employ a sizeable team of FHE researchers and engineers supporting a global developer ecosystem.
Morpho is identified as an open credit network with $11B+ in deposits that connects lenders and borrowers and provides modular infrastructure for embedding configurable credit products. The announcement notes that organizations including Coinbase, Bitwise Asset Management and Société Générale build on Morpho to deploy onchain credit products.
Steakhouse Financial is described as a provider of stablecoin-focused products with over $4.5B in total value locked (TVL), and as a market leader in risk curation for noncustodial DeFi vaults that power earn products for platforms such as Coinbase, Bitget, Crypto.com, Safe and Trust Wallet.
Availability and resources
The confidential Steakhouse USDC Prime vault will accept deposits starting June 23, 2026 through the Zama app. The announcement directs users seeking technical documentation or integration architecture to visit zama.org or follow Zama’s account on X.
Contact
PR & Communications Director
Julia André
Zama
julia.andre@zama.org
This article is a report of the product launch and integration as described by the relevant parties. It does not provide investment advice.