TradeTech Eye — Capital Markets Technology News

Zama and Morpho Scale Confidential DeFi with 16 New Vaults and Swap Protocol

By Lauren Towner · 15 September 2026

In brief: Zama and Morpho have launched 16 confidential vaults and a swap protocol using Fully Homomorphic Encryption to allow institutions to access DeFi yield without exposing their positions on public blockchains.

Key facts
Confidential Vaults16
Asset Classes5 (USDC, USDT, AUSD, tGBP)
Morpho Deposits$14B+
Previous TVL Growth$40M in 7 weeks
Press Release: Zama and Morpho Scale Confidential DeFi with 16 New Vaults and Swap Protocol | Featured Image by FF News

Quick Summary

Confidential DeFi solves the visibility problem on public blockchains by using Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to hide institutional positions and strategies. Zama and Morpho's expansion provides 16 private vaults, allowing allocators to access high-yield venues without exposing their holdings to competitors or front-runners.

How Does Zama Enable Confidential Institutional DeFi?

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) is the core technology allowing Zama to process encrypted data without ever decrypting it. This ensures that Confidential DeFi participants can interact with public smart contracts on Ethereum while keeping their balances and strategies entirely private. By launching 16 confidential vaults, Zama provides a secure entry point for institutional treasuries that were previously sidelined by the transparency of public ledgers. These vaults include:

  • 12 Hybrid Vaults that mirror existing public strategies on Morpho.
  • 4 Exclusive Vaults designed specifically for confidential-only participants.
  • Support for five major asset classes including USDC, USDT, AUSD, and tGBP.

This infrastructure allows sophisticated capital allocators to maintain the same risk profiles and liquidity they are accustomed to, but with the added layer of onchain privacy protection.

What Are the Benefits of the Zama Swap Protocol?

The Zama Swap Protocol completes the ecosystem by allowing users to move between different confidential asset positions without revealing their intent or trade size. This creates a closed-loop environment where users can deposit, earn yield, and swap assets entirely within a confidential envelope. By removing the need to exit to public pools for rebalancing, Zama eliminates front-running risks and prevents competitors from reverse-engineering proprietary trading strategies. The protocol supports confidential versions of major stablecoins (cUSDC, cUSDT, cAUSD, cTGBP), ensuring that liquidity remains fluid across the entire confidential suite.

Which Curators Are Supporting This Confidential Expansion?

Institutional-grade curators are essential for the credibility of these private yield venues. Zama has partnered with Steakhouse Financial, Armitage by Wintermute, Flowdesk, RockawayX, and Bitwise to manage the underlying strategies. These curators ensure that Confidential DeFi vaults maintain blue-chip standards for risk management and performance. Success metrics from the initial pilot include a $40 million TVL growth in just seven weeks, proving that there is significant market demand for private onchain yield. The expansion also targets regional stablecoin adoption, such as the UK’s tGBP, providing a compliant entry point for global financial institutions.

FF NEWS TAKE:

This announcement marks the moment Confidential DeFi transitions from a niche experiment to a scalable institutional product. By integrating directly with Morpho - a protocol with over $14 billion in deposits - Zama isn't asking users to move to a new, unproven chain; it is bringing privacy to the liquidity. This is a massive needle-mover for onchain finance, finally addressing the privacy hurdles that have kept trillions in institutional capital on the sidelines.

Frequently asked questions

How does Zama ensure privacy in DeFi vaults?

Zama uses Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to ensure privacy. This technology allows the protocol to process encrypted data on public blockchains like Ethereum without ever decrypting it, meaning institutional positions, balances, and strategies remain invisible to competitors and front-runners while still earning yield.

What assets are supported in the new Zama confidential vaults?

The new expansion supports five major asset classes for confidential deposits. These include USDC, USDT, AUSD, and tGBP. Users can deposit these assets into 16 different vaults curated by leading DeFi firms like Steakhouse Financial and Bitwise.

What is the Zama Swap Protocol?

The Zama Swap Protocol is a new feature that allows depositors to swap between confidential assets, such as vault positions and stablecoins (cUSDC, cUSDT, etc.), without exposing the size or intent of the trade. This creates a completely private loop for depositing, earning, and rebalancing onchain.

About the companies

Morpho

Website · 18 stories on FF News since 2026

Previously on FF News:

Zama

Website · 5 stories on FF News since 2025

Previously on FF News:

Steakhouse Financial

3 stories on FF News since 2026

Previously on FF News:

Companies in this story: Morpho, Zama, Steakhouse Financial

People in this story: Benoit Marzouk, Merlin Egalite, Dr. Rand Hindi, Serafin Lion Engel, Evgeny Yurtaev

More from News