How Fabric Aims to Pervade Advanced Cryptography Everywhere

Fabric Cryptography, initiated by MIT and Stanford alumni (who are also a married couple) Michael Gao and Tina Ju, aims to democratize cutting-edge cryptographic solutions like zero-knowledge proofs (enabling proof of knowledge without disclosing the actual information) and fully homomorphic encryption (allowing computation on encrypted data without needing to decrypt it). The founders believe these advancements can alleviate the inherent conflict between trust and privacy, especially in an era when businesses are collecting extensive consumer data but often fail to protect it effectively.

To bring their vision to life, the company has engineered a bespoke chip based on RISC-V architecture, fine-tuned for executing algorithms fundamental to zero-knowledge proofs and fully homomorphic encryption. They term it a “verifiable processing unit” (VPU). According to the team, existing hardware lacks the speed to make technologies like fully homomorphic encryption widely accessible, stating that specialized chips are essential to achieve widespread adoption.

The startup has captured the interest of several venture capitalists, with a leading $33 million Series A financing round spearheaded by Blockchain Capital and 1kx. The round saw participation from Offchain Labs, Polygon, and Matter Labs, following an initial $6 million seed funding round led by Metaplanet, which included contributions from Inflection and Liquid2 Ventures.

The involvement of multiple crypto investors in a cryptography venture is seen as a strategic alignment. Yuan Han Li, from Blockchain Capital, expressed enthusiasm for partnering with Fabric, praising their mission to transform cryptographic operations with the world’s inaugural VPU, thus making privacy and verifiability standard elements in digital infrastructures.

While Fabric Cryptography principally targets enterprise clients, the blockchain domain is identified as having the most pressing need for their innovation, particularly for tasks involving zero-knowledge proofs.

“The domains of zero-knowledge proofs and fully homomorphic encryption are starting to reflect the AI boom of the 2010s, with a rapidly growing need for computational resources,” Gao discussed with me. “It’s becoming more mainstream within the crypto community, and we predict its application will extend into widespread encryption use within businesses. Tina and I formed this venture with the conviction that specialized hardware could be the key catalyst for bringing cryptographic aspirations into reality,” he added.

Fabric has announced receiving preorders worth multiple tens of millions of dollars.

Companies increasingly wish to avoid managing “the toxic sludge of user data” as Ju labeled it, due to its inherent risks. By utilizing technologies that allow them to keep data encrypted even during use, or to exchange only the necessary information via zero-knowledge proofs, enterprises can significantly enhance their security posture.

Gao, already known for his entrepreneurial endeavors in hardware, co-created Luminous Computing, a photonic AI startup. He later co-founded, and in 2022 became CEO of, Katana – a Bitcoin mining chip startup that eventually paved the way for Fabric Cryptography, although Katana has since been discontinued. The foundational ethos of Fabric Systems, however, seems to influence Fabric Cryptography.

Gao reminisced about their time at Luminous, noting a pivotal realization: despite the vast potential of AI and his excitement for large language models, the predominant application for photonic computing—powering substantial AI systems for social media ad targeting—was uninspiring.

Fabric is on the brink of producing its inaugural chip batch. The newly acquired funds will help in developing their subsequent chip iteration and expanding their software and cryptographic teams. Looking ahead, Fabric aims to integrate their chips into enterprise data centers and potentially market to massive cloud service providers.