Why

A vision-centric overview of Seismic

Ethereum launched with two key problems: limited scalability and forced transparency. Limited scalability made every transaction slow and expensive. Forced transparency left every transaction exposed and scrutinized.

We’ve solved scalability, but not transparency. Every major L1 today is still transparent. None are encrypted.

Why? Because for the last decade, our industry optimized for encryption at the wallet level to provide user privacy. It enabled actions like purchasing goods without exposing balances or speaking without exposing identities. Though crucial for personal freedom, this focus on new wallets came at the cost of producing new apps. Without new apps, we struggled to attract mass market users.

So how do we get new apps? Encrypt at the protocol level instead of at the wallet level.

To achieve this, encryption must be built into the core—the base layer—not just attached to the edges of a transparent chain. That’s why we created Seismic, the encrypted blockchain.