Week in the Privacy News 1/2026

Good Monday, friends of privacy!

And Happy New Year and off to the good start! Fhenix team has been working a lot lately and by the end of December their research team has published DBFV - a new FHE scheme designed to make encrypted arithmetic meaningfully faster, thus earning the spot of Tool of the week.

Tool of the week

• Fhenix - blockchain research and development company building privacy-focused solutions using FHE

Insights

• Research team of Fhenix published new FHE scheme
• Read it here: High-Precision Exact FHE Made Simple, General, and Fast by Chris Peikert, Guy Zyskind and Doron Zarchy
• New York city has banned Raspberry Pi and Flipper Zero devices
• Venezuela’s $60B Bitcoin Holdings Could Trigger a Global Supply Shock after Trump kidnapped Venezuela's president Maduro
• Musk's Grok generates sexualized images of women and minors

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Knowledge

• Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum Has Solved Blockchain’s Trilemma
• Why will privacy be the core narrative of crypto in 2026?
• New Research Paper Identifies Six Open Problems In Blockchain Privacy Technology
• EFF's review of Surveillance Self-Defense
• Wired's guide how to protect your phone from spyware

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Inspiration: Going On(Line) an offering of media from the web

• Gadgets for people who don't trust the Government
• Bankless share their 27 predictions for crypto in 2026
• Take our own Web3 Privacy Now courses through our Academy

Inspiration: Going Off(Line) an offering of IRL events

*(new/changes in **bold**)*

• Jan 31 - Feb 1 - FOSDEM 2026 Brussels
• Feb 5–6, - Digital Assets Forum - London, UK
• Feb 12-15 - MONEROTOPIA 2026 Mexico City
• Feb 17–21 - ETHDenver - Denver, Colorado
• Mar 6-7 - Logos Network's Parallel Society Lisabon
• Mar 1–2 - Crypto Expo Europe - Bucharest, Romania
• Apr 15–16 - Paris Blockchain Week - Paris, France
• May 5-8 - RightsCon Zambia
• May 8-10 - ETHPrague Prague
• Jun 16-17 - Dapcon 26 Berlin