Vitalik: Diamond iO Enables Programs to Run While Hiding Internal Logic and Critical Data

Odaily Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published a new article introducing Diamond iO, a novel cryptographic obfuscation technique. This technology aims to address the extreme inefficiency of traditional indistinguishability obfuscation (iO) schemes, allowing programs to execute while hiding their internal logic and critical data. Traditional iO technology offers privacy protection but at a high computational cost. Diamond iO, by adopting more aggressive new cryptographic assumptions, improves computational efficiency from "cosmological time" to "planetary time," bringing it closer to practical application. Diamond iO is built on technologies such as Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). It encrypts programs, enabling users to execute the encrypted program and obtain correct outputs without viewing its internal code or hidden keys. This scheme introduces a new input encoding mechanism and conditional decryption method, reducing computational complexity while ensuring program logic is hidden. Its core application scenarios include protecting programs containing private keys, enabling secure software licensing, building trustless cryptographic services, and supporting blockchain and AI systems with stronger privacy guarantees.

Diamond iO is still in its early research stages. Its security depends on novel cryptographic assumptions, including All-Product LWE and Evasive LWE, which require further research and validation. At the same time, the technology still faces efficiency challenges such as high computational overhead and circuit depth limitations. Researchers believe that by optimizing underlying hash functions, improving homomorphic encryption schemes, and reducing security parameter requirements, Diamond iO has the potential to become an important direction for advancing practical program obfuscation technology in the future.