Privacy Matters: Conference and Builder Program Updates
While many of you are enjoying a long weekend, we wanted to share an update on what has been happening at BREW and what is coming up next.
We are happy to share more details about our upcoming conference, so mark your calendars. And now that we are halfway through the privacy builder program, we also wanted to take the opportunity to look back at the sessions so far and share the videos and materials, allowing others interested in these topics to follow along as well.
Berlin Blockchain Week: Privacy Matters
On June 20, BREW will organize Privacy Matters, a one-day conference at Funkhaus Berlin during Berlin Blockchain Week.
The conference explores privacy in decentralized systems through the lenses of technological foundations, applications in practice, and real-world constraints. Expect talks, workshops, practical privacy sessions, and discussions spanning infrastructure, applications, and everyday digital life.
We’re still shaping parts of the program and welcome sponsors in contributing to the conference through activations, workshops or other types of engagement.
If you would like to help making the conference a reality or have interesting talks or workshops to contribute, please fill out our speakers and volunteers form!
Futura Camp
At the same location and surrounding grounds, Futura Camp will host a week-long co-living experience and deep dive into emerging technologies, bringing together builders and researchers from different disciplines at Funkhaus.
Applications to join Futura Camp are still open!
BREW Builder Program
On March 23rd, we kicked off our builder program with 25 builders joining the cohort! Over the past weeks, we hosted sessions on topics ranging from zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to fully homomorphic encryption (FHE).
We’re happy to share the session recordings and materials so you can follow along with the conversations and workshops so far.
Building a simple ZK Application with Sergey from L2BEAT
Sergey Shemyakov, ZK Researcher at L2BEAT, led the first of two sessions exploring Zero-Knowledge technology. The evening combined a presentation introducing the foundations of ZK while also covering newer trends, tooling, and developments for more advanced participants.
This session was followed by a hands-on workshop where participants used Noir and the Barretenberg proving library to build a simple zero-knowledge application.
You can follow along with the workshop and explore the repository.
Integrating a Verifiable Layer with zkVerify
On April 16 we were joined by zkVerify DevRel Khushi Panwar, who shared with our BREW cohort how to integrate zero-knowledge proofs into their applications and make use of zkVerify, a high-performant, public, and decentralized blockchain dedicated to zero-knowledge proof verification.
For those looking to build: a new season of builder funding supported by zkVerify begins late summer 2026. Have a look at the zkVerify Developer Docs to learn more about the tech. Teams looking for a simpler integration path, Kurier built by the same team behind zkVerify offers a REST API-based solution for submitting and verifying zero-knowledge proofs through zkVerify. For more information or questions, join the zkVerify Builders Telegram or Discord!
The State of FHE with Miha Stopar from the EF
Miha Stopar from the Ethereum Foundation gave an overview of the current state of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), contrasting its long-term potential with the practical constraints shaping its adoption today. The session explored key design challenges around verifiability, key management, trust assumptions, and the tradeoffs involved in building encrypted systems for decentralized environments.
Ahead of the session, participants have a look of Miha’s write-ups on ETHResearch on the topic of FHE:
Exploring Encrypted On-Chain State with Fhenix
Lauren Dutton from Fhenix joined us to explain how Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) can enable applications with encrypted on-chain state and confidential user interactions. The session covered the limitations of transparent blockchain systems, the broader landscape of privacy-enhancing technologies, and why demand for private shared state is increasing.
Lauren introduced the Fhenix CoFHE stack, walking through how developers can build applications that compute on encrypted data, alongside several practical use cases. If you are interested in integrating Fhenix, you can book a call or if you are interested in building with Fhenix can also join the Fhenix Buildathon.
Thank you to everyone who has joined the sessions, shared ideas and supported us. We are looking forward to the second half of the program and to creating more space for conversations around privacy at the conference in June.
More soon!