Interfold Community Update: November

Interfold Community Update: November

Since our last community update in September, a lot has happened at the Interfold. Privacy-preserving governance is now live, our first ciphernode rewards proposal has passed, community members have been building and contributing in new ways, and we've been connecting with developers and privacy advocates from Barcelona to Mumbai. Here's what we've been up to.

Governance & Ciphernode Rewards

Privacy-preserving governance is live

Interfold's governance is up and running, powered by Aragon OSx and Interfold’s encrypted, receipt-free secret ballots. FOLD holders with active voting power can help shape the network's future without publicly revealing their individual voting choices. The community has already put the system to use, beginning with a vote on the Interfold Constitution. We published a step-by-step voting guide to help everyone get involved, along with a closer look at why secret ballots shouldn't come with receipts.

IPP-001 passes: 12M FOLD for ciphernode operators

Our IPP-001 governance proposal has officially passed, establishing 12 million FOLD in rewards over 12 weeks to support independent ciphernode operators during Network Alpha. Rewards for the first five epochs have now been distributed, totaling 7.2 million FOLD. The sixth and final epoch is underway, with 4.8 million FOLD allocated through Nov 11.

Ciphernodes support Interfold's infrastructure through distributed key generation and threshold decryption for Encrypted Execution Environments (E3s). These initial rewards are designed to help grow a diverse, independent operator network. A huge thank-you to everyone who's been supporting the network since August!

Interested in becoming an operator? Read about IPP-001 or explore the operator setup guide. Individual rewards depend on eligible participation. Already operating? Check your estimated allocations in the IPP-001 Rewards Tracker. Final rewards are determined by the Foundation's settlement sheets.

Technical Progress & R&D

Synchronised decryption for multiple outputs

We have continued to work on an implementation for synchronised decryption, which will allow E3s to have multiple outputs, or a cycle of decryption -> computation -> decryption. Currently only one output is supported, to ensure that key material is not leaked. With this new feature we will be able to explore new applications that require multiple outputs.

ZKPassport identity for ciphernode operators

As the next step to prevent a single identity to control several nodes in one committee, we have integrated ZK Passport. This allows a bond owner to register one credential so that they cannot take several seats by registering different wallets. We will continue to explore alternative solutions so that a wider range of operators can register in the network, as ZK Passport currently only supports identity documents with a scannable chip.

Refactoring and strengthening of the ciphernode codebase

We have started to refactor the ciphernode code to simplify future work, and continue to solve bugs reported by operators and other users. These include better handling of node restarts and failover, so that slashing votes and in-progress key and decryption work are not lost. They also include stronger authentication of DKG participants and downloaded circuit files, as well as limits on incoming network connections to protect nodes from spam. We have also reorganised the codebase into clear modules, such as networking, state, orchestration and FHE, which makes it easier for new contributors to find their way around.

Exploring Privacy-Preserving Auctions

We're continuing to explore sealed-bid auctions as a potential application of Interfold's confidential coordination infrastructure. Our team is actively researching auction designs, including:

  • Vickrey auctions, where the highest bidder wins but pays the second-highest bid.
  • Encrypted bid processing, designed to evaluate private bids while limiting disclosure to the outputs permitted by the auction rules.
  • Verification and randomness mechanisms, exploring zero-knowledge proofs and independently contributed randomness, along with their tradeoffs for confidentiality and result integrity.

The challenge is balancing bid confidentiality, verifiability, and computational efficiency while determining what information an auction needs to reveal. These designs remain under evaluation, but offer an interesting example of how participants could reach shared outcomes without unnecessarily exposing sensitive information.

Read more about our research into sealed-bid auctions.

FOLD Tokenomics & Governance

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the discussion around FOLD tokenomics in our Telegram community channel this past week. The conversations explore how network adoption, protocol revenue and long-term token utility can evolve together, with community members sharing ideas around fee distribution, buy-and-burn mechanisms and other approaches to strengthening the token economy. Interfold founder Auryn joined the discussion, sharing an important perspective on the project's priorities:

Our immediate focus is on building and distributing the protocol, driving real usage and growing sustainable network revenue. As adoption develops, mechanisms such as protocol-owned liquidity, treasury management and revenue distribution can be evaluated based on their potential benefits to the ecosystem.

Auryn also emphasized that governance is open to community-led proposals, inviting contributors to develop concrete specifications for consideration by the DAO. It's exactly the kind of technically informed, constructive participation we want to encourage as Interfold grows.

Community & Ecosystem

Into the Fold: Celebrating community contributions

Our first Into the Fold community program has wrapped up, bringing together 150 participants across 10 activations focused on education, creativity, and technical exploration. Contributions included dashboards, educational videos, articles, as well as code and security reports. We're also seeing independent projects like Interfold Nodewatch, the Interfold Network Map, and Chris Wilder's Interfold Board make network activity easier to explore. It's been encouraging to see people finding their own ways to contribute. Meet the contributors and read the full recap.

🇪🇸 Privacy conversations at MozFest Barcelona

In late October, we joined Mozilla Festival in Barcelona, connecting with people working across privacy, digital rights, and decentralized infrastructure. Conversations ranged from data minimization and cryptographic voting to the challenges of decentralization and making privacy technologies more accessible. It was a great opportunity to exchange perspectives with people approaching these questions from different technical and social backgrounds.

🇮🇳 Interfold on the ground @ Devcon Mumbai

We were in Mumbai for the Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress 3 and Devcon, connecting with developers, researchers, infrastructure teams, and the broader Ethereum community. On Nov 2, we hosted our own gathering - Cypherpunk Congress After Hours with the Interfold, attracting more than 400 registrations and 150 attendees! It was a great opportunity to exchange ideas and connect with people building privacy infrastructure. In addition, we have met with teams across the ecosystem and joined community gatherings involving Zcash, Railgun, and others, exploring potential collaborations and new applications for confidential computation.

Media Presence, Interviews & Spaces

We've also been popping up in a few places around the ecosystem, from interviews and livestreams to independent research and technical coverage.

What's Next

We're continuing to expand the independent ciphernode operator network, encourage governance participation, and connect with more developers and projects. We're also exploring opportunities for technical discussions, builder support, and new community collaborations. Whether you're interested in running infrastructure, building with E3s, or contributing something entirely new, there are plenty of ways to get involved!

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