Eryx

Overview

Eryx is a cooperative from Argentina that builds privacy and cryptography tools for blockchains¹. Much of that work uses zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, a kind of math that lets someone prove a statement is true without showing the private details behind it. Outside blockchain, Eryx also builds custom software and computer vision systems for businesses².

Eryx is worker-owned: the people who work there run the company together, and its Spanish-language team page sums up the idea as "life is too short to have bosses"³. On Cardano, Eryx has completed two grants from Project Catalyst, Cardano's community funding program^4,5, and completed a treasury contract with Intersect to build the Cardano side of a bridge that moves assets between blockchains⁶. On Midnight, a blockchain built around data privacy, the team has entered hackathons with working prototypes and built a hashing component, code that turns data into a short fingerprint, for Midnight's proof system^1,7.

Key Features

• Proof checks inside Aiken contracts. Eryx's aiken-zk tool lets developers using Aiken, a language for Cardano smart contracts (programs that run on the blockchain), move work off-chain and have the contract check a short proof instead⁸.
• Wallet login with a Google account. Eryx's zkLogin lets people control a Cardano wallet by signing in with Google instead of a seed phrase, and the proofs keep that Google identity unlinked from the wallet address⁹. The code has been tested on a Cardano test network¹⁰.
• Proving funds are clean without revealing identity. With Encoins and Módulo P, Eryx co-built a proof of concept of Proof of Innocence, a protocol that would let users show their funds aren't linked to blacklisted transactions without saying who they are^11,12.
• Groundwork for a cross-chain bridge. The Eryx ZK Bridge contract covers Aiken contracts that lock assets and mint wrapped copies, plus a proof that the locking transaction was recorded on Cardano. The contract calls for the bridge to be deployed on a Cardano test network⁶.
• Free learning material on cryptography. Eryx publishes Crypto Docs, an online book for learning applied cryptography¹³, and is listed as a supporter of zkCity, a zero-knowledge bootcamp held in Buenos Aires¹⁴.

What to Expect

The main eryx.co site opens in Spanish and describes the company's services. The English-language portfolio at crypto.eryx.co is the better starting point for blockchain work. It lists each cryptography project with its status and links to the code, articles, and videos, along with the team's hackathon placements¹.

Developers will find the code in the Eryx GitHub organization. The zkLogin repository includes a web app that anyone with a Google account can run on their own computer to try the login flow on a Cardano test network¹⁰. The Cardano Developer Portal also lists zkLogin among its smart contract templates¹⁵.

Organizations can hire Eryx for cryptography research, custom software, or computer vision. The services page names zero-knowledge proofs and fully homomorphic encryption, a way to compute on data while it stays encrypted, among the techniques its experts use².

Eryx submitted its ZK Bridge as a Cardano budget proposal on GovTool¹⁶. Eryx's Carolina Lang also described the team's plans for a ZK bridge on Cardano at an Input Output research working group on layer 2 networks, which handle transactions off the main chain¹⁷.