BASE PRIVACY

Institutional Privacy for the Coinbase Ecosystem.

Q: Is Base privacy the same as encrypted computation (FHE)?

No. Base privacy is an expression of the H33 Privacy Layer that protects evidence, identity, and chain interaction using zero-knowledge proofs, selective disclosure, and data minimization. Encrypted computation over data that never decrypts is a separate mechanism (FHE). The two share the word privacy but not the mechanism.

Q: Does Base produce the proof?

No. The portable evidence is produced by H33-74 and its verdict is rendered by Verification. Base is the reference environment the 32-byte commitment anchors to; it never generates or verifies the attestation.

Q: When should I choose a different chain for privacy?

Choose Bitcoin privacy when settlement permanence matters most, or Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Avalanche privacy when your evidence naturally settles there. The same H33-74 attestation is portable across all supported chains.

Related · tier-1 reading. For the privacy story end-to-end — FHE + STARK proof + portable artifact, see Privacy Layer.

Base is the institutional on-ramp to DeFi. But every transaction is public. Every token balance, DeFi position, and Coinbase ecosystem interaction is visible to anyone. H33 adds post-quantum privacy to the most regulated L2 in crypto.

Schedule Demo Privacy Layer Hub

DEFINITION

Base privacy is the expression of the H33 Privacy Layer on the Base L2. It protects the privacy of your evidence, identity, and chain interaction while anchoring a portable, independently verifiable attestation to Base. The privacy mechanism is a combination of zero-knowledge proof (ZK — STARK, no reveal), selective disclosure, and data minimization; the portable evidence itself is produced by H33-74 (the 74-byte post-quantum attestation), and the verdict is rendered by Verification. Base is the reference environment the evidence anchors to — a 32-byte commitment in calldata — never the producer of the proof.

Why this exists: Base is the institutional on-ramp to DeFi, and the most regulated L2 in crypto — yet every token balance, DeFi position, and ecosystem interaction is public. Base itself provides ordering and inherited Ethereum settlement; it provides no privacy and no post-quantum evidence. The Privacy Layer supplies both, without asking you to trust Base with anything more than a hash.

EXPOSURE COMPARISON

What changes when H33 is in the path

Native Base

× Visible token balances
× Visible DeFi positions
× Visible swap history
× Visible lending positions
× Visible NFT ownership
× Visible Coinbase ecosystem visibility
× Visible gas usage patterns
× Visible bridge transactions

H33 Protected

✓ Encrypted transaction workflow
✓ Attested execution proof
✓ Hidden position metadata
✓ Proof-only compliance verification
✓ 32-byte calldata commitment
✓ Independent verification
✓ Post-quantum attestation
✓ Replay-grade evidence

ATTESTATION RECEIPT

What a verified attestation looks like

h33-74 attestation receipt
H33-74 ATTESTATION RECEIPT

Receipt ID:     h74_attest_...
DAG Root:       0x... (depth: 4, nodes: 12)
Proof Hash:     0x... (STARK, 128-bit PQ security)
Replay Ref:     replay://h33.ai/r/...
Chain Anchor:   Base L2 -- block ...
Commitment:     0x... (32 bytes in calldata)

SIGNATURES:
  ML-DSA-65:    VALID (3,309 bytes -- MLWE lattice)
  FALCON-512:   VALID (666 bytes -- NTRU lattice)
  SLH-DSA-128f: VALID (17,088 bytes -- hash-based)

VERIFICATION:   ALL CHECKS PASSED (20/20)
HATS LEVEL:     Level 1 Conformance
CACHEE KEY:     cachee://h33.ai/c/...

Replay This Attestation -->    Verify Independently -->

ATTESTATION PIPELINE

Five stages. 32 bytes on-chain.

Transaction

Encrypted inputs from protocol

-->

STARK Proof

Constraint satisfaction without reveal

-->

PQ Signatures

ML-DSA + FALCON + SLH-DSA triple sign

-->

Cachee Store

Full proof bundle persisted off-chain

-->

EVM Calldata

32-byte commitment on Base L2

32 bytes on-chain. Full proof off-chain. Three PQ families. Zero data revealed.

DISCLOSURE BOUNDARY

What crosses the attestation boundary

NOT REVEALED

× Token balances
× DeFi positions
× Swap history
× Lending positions
× NFT ownership
× Coinbase account link
× Gas patterns
× Bridge activity

ONLY REVEALED

✓ Cryptographic validity
✓ Compliance proof
✓ Solvency attestation
✓ Attestation commitment
✓ Verification status
✓ Replay availability
✓ PQ signature bundle
✓ Chain anchor hash

DECISION GUIDANCE

When to use Base privacy — and when not to

When to use this

✓ Use this when your positions or Coinbase-ecosystem activity already live on Base and you need portable proof anchored there.
✓ Use this when you want low-cost, high-throughput EVM anchoring with a 32-byte commitment on the most regulated L2.
✓ Use this when you must prove compliance to a regulator while revealing nothing to competitors.

When NOT to use this

× Do not use this when you need maximum settlement permanence — use Bitcoin privacy instead.
× Do not use this when your evidence naturally settles elsewhere — use Ethereum privacy, Arbitrum privacy, or Avalanche privacy.
× Do not use this when the need is encrypted computation over data that never decrypts — that is a different mechanism (FHE); use FHE instead. Anchoring the result back to Base still routes through this page.

BOUNDARY QUESTIONS

Exactly what Base privacy is — and is not

1. What privacy property is provided?
Confidentiality of your evidence, identity, and on-chain interaction: balances, positions, and ecosystem activity stay hidden while a proof of validity and compliance is published.
2. What is specific to Base?
The reference environment: a Base L2 calldata commitment (32 bytes), low fees, high throughput, inherited Ethereum settlement, and its position as the most regulated on-ramp to DeFi. The chain is where the evidence anchors — it is not the producer of the evidence.
3. What remains supplied by H33-74?
The portable evidence itself. H33-74 produces the 74-byte post-quantum attestation that travels across every chain unchanged; Base only stores its commitment.
4. Is the mechanism ZK, FHE, minimization, selective disclosure, or a combination?
A combination: zero-knowledge STARK proof, selective disclosure, and data minimization. FHE (encrypted computation) is a distinct mechanism and is used only if encrypted compute is genuinely in the workflow — see FHE.
5. What does the chain itself NOT provide?
Base provides no privacy, no post-quantum signatures, and no verification logic for the attestation. It orders and settles a 32-byte commitment — nothing more.
6. How is the evidence independently verified?
Verification renders the verdict: re-derive the commitment from the published bundle and check the three post-quantum signature families offline with the open-source verifier — no trust in H33 or Base required.
7. When should another chain or mechanism be preferred?
Prefer Bitcoin for maximum permanence; Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Avalanche when settlement lives there; and FHE when the need is computing on data that never decrypts.

FAQ

Base privacy — questions

Is Base privacy the same as encrypted computation (FHE)?

No. Base privacy is an expression of the Privacy Layer — it protects evidence, identity, and chain interaction using ZK, selective disclosure, and minimization. Encrypted computation over data that never decrypts is a separate mechanism (FHE), covered at /fhe/. The two share the word “privacy” but not the mechanism.

Does Base produce the proof?

No. The proof is produced by H33-74 and its verdict is rendered by Verification. Base is the reference environment the 32-byte commitment anchors to — it never generates or verifies the attestation.

When should I choose a different chain?

Choose Bitcoin privacy when permanence matters most, or Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Avalanche privacy when your evidence naturally settles there. The same H33-74 attestation is portable across all of them.