What is Seismic, the privacy blockchain that a16z has consecutively led two rounds for?
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What is Seismic, the privacy blockchain that a16z has consecutively led two rounds for?
As cryptocurrencies move toward mainstream users, the need for privacy protection is becoming more urgent than ever.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Nicky, Foresight News
As privacy coins like ZEC recently experience price increases, the privacy sector has once again become a market focus. A16z crypto recently emphasized on social media that "as cryptocurrencies reach more mainstream users, the need for privacy is more urgent than ever."
Against this backdrop, privacy blockchain project Seismic announced a new $10 million funding round, marking the second time a16z crypto has led investment in the project this year. The project has now completed two funding rounds totaling $17 million. In March 2025, it announced a $7 million seed round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Polychain and 1kx; on November 12, it secured an additional $10 million, again led by a16z crypto and joined by new investors including Amber Group, with funds primarily allocated to technology development and ecosystem expansion.
Project Positioning and Technical Features
Seismic is a privacy-preserving blockchain designed specifically for financial technology use cases. Built on EVM, developers can use the familiar Solidity language, only requiring additional syntax to control privacy settings. This design reduces developer learning curves while delivering essential privacy capabilities.
The project's core technical features are reflected in three aspects. Through protocol-layer encryption and secure hardware support, Seismic enables default privacy protection. It adopts Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology instead of zero-knowledge proof solutions, requiring all nodes to operate within TEEs to ensure data security. The system introduces shielded data types—including shielded integers, booleans, and addresses—enabling developers to easily handle private data.
In addition, Seismic Reth, its native execution client, further enhances privacy capabilities: supporting private storage, encrypted transactions, and integrating six new precompiled contracts (such as AES-GCM encryption and ECDH key exchange), allowing developers to quickly invoke privacy functions. The client was open-sourced in October 2024 to lower the barrier for developer adoption.
Seismic was founded by Lyron Co Ting Keh, who holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Stanford University. He previously founded an edtech company, developed a Ruby on Rails training platform, and contributed to tooling for privacy projects such as Zcash and Aztec.
Peter He, a core engineer, previously led the development of a blockchain framework dedicated to Ethereum applications and specializes in distributed systems and privacy technologies. He now oversees Seismic’s technical implementation. Business development lead Terence focuses on driving fintech partnerships, aiming to extend Seismic’s privacy capabilities into broader financial applications. Although not all team members are publicly disclosed, available backgrounds indicate that members come from organizations such as Wintermute, Google X, and Apple R&D.
In September this year, Brookwell, the first application built on Seismic, officially launched. Developed by entrepreneurs Ravi and Rohan, this fintech product allows users to earn DeFi yields while using traditional payment channels.
Brookwell chose to build on Seismic primarily due to its privacy-preserving capabilities. The application handles deeply personal financial transactions such as rent payments and salary disbursements—sensitive data unsuitable for public visibility on public blockchains. Leveraging Seismic’s privacy technology, Brookwell bridges cryptocurrency and traditional financial systems while protecting user privacy. The project’s official website currently offers Waitlist registration.
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