Podcast: Enabling a World of Secure Computing w/ Erin and Joe, Optalysys

This week on the FHE Onchain podcast, we sat down with Erin Hales and Joe Wilson from Optalysys, a company pioneering the use of optical computing to accelerate Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). Our discussion covered everything from Fourier optics to hardware acceleration for confidential computing, and why this approach might be the key to unlocking FHE at scale.

What Is Optalysys Building?

Optalysys is taking a radically different approach to FHE acceleration by leveraging optical computing instead of traditional digital processing. Their work focuses on Fourier optics, a technique that enables fast and efficient computation of mathematical transforms, which are fundamental to FHE operations.

Why Optical Computing for FHE?

Optical computing operates on the properties of light rather than traditional electronic transistors. This means it can perform specific mathematical operations instantly and with lower energy consumption. Since 70–90% of FHE workloads involve transform operations, using optical computing as an accelerator could lead to massive speedups.

How Optalysys is Enhancing Confidential Computing

Optalysys is developing optical hardware designed to accelerate key FHE operations. Their technology provides benefits such as:

• Lower latency and higher throughput for FHE computations
• Massive power efficiency compared to conventional digital approaches
• Seamless integration with existing FHE schemes (TFHE, CKKS, BFV, BGV, etc.)

By offloading transform operations to optics, Optalysys aims to make FHE scalable for real-world applications, from private AI models to confidential blockchain transactions.

The Role of FHE in Blockchain and Privacy Tech

FHE is often considered too slow or expensive for practical deployment. However, blockchain applications are emerging as one of the most promising use cases due to their structured, small-size encrypted data and need for onchain privacy.

Some key areas where FHE can have an impact include:

• Confidential Payments: Encrypted transactions without revealing sender, receiver, or amount.
• MEV-Resistant DeFi: Preventing front-running and sandwich attacks with encrypted order books.
• Confidential Smart Contracts: Running private computations directly onchain.

FHE and Quantum Resistance

One of the common concerns in the cryptographic community is whether FHE remains secure against quantum attacks. Following last year's scare regarding lattice-based cryptography, we discussed with Erin and Joe how lattice assumptions remain robust despite recent attacks.

• The Chen attack that raised concerns targeted a specific set of parameters rather than breaking lattice-based cryptography as a whole.
• Even if a quantum breakthrough occurs, FHE schemes can be adjusted to maintain security through parameter tuning.
• Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization efforts continue to reinforce the security of lattice-based encryption.

How Optalysys Is Changing the Game

Compared to traditional FHE hardware accelerators (such as DARPA-funded projects like Basilisk and Trebuchet), Optalysys’s approach is unique because it doesn’t rely on digital processing alone. Instead, they are building a dedicated optical co-processor for FHE, offering advantages like:

• Drastically reduced energy consumption
• High-speed transform operations critical for encrypted computations
• Seamless compatibility with existing FHE toolchains

This makes Optalysys’s solution particularly compelling for FHE-enabled blockchains, where compute efficiency is a bottleneck.

Final Thoughts and Where to Learn More

As FHE adoption grows, hardware acceleration will be key to making it practical at scale. Optalysys is one of the companies at the forefront of this innovation. If successful, their work could drastically reduce the cost and latency of FHE, unlocking new possibilities for privacy-preserving applications in blockchain, AI, and beyond.

For those interested in diving deeper into Optalysys and their work, check out:

• Optalysys Innovation Lab
• FHE.org for general FHE resources
• HomomorphicEncryption.org for industry insights

This was an insightful conversation—FHE is no longer theoretical; it's becoming practical. Stay tuned as we continue exploring the cutting edge of confidential computing on the FHE Onchain Podcast!