The first Messari report on decentralized confidential computing put the space on the map. Now the question is: how do we turn mapping into mobilization? As Anewbiz, COO at Secret, puts it, “The technology is not the bottleneck anymore. It’s how we frame use cases, compare capabilities, and build a collaborative foundation for developers and institutions alike.”
Messari and lead analyst Mohamed Allam wrote the first major research report on decentralized confidential computing (DeCC) which landed with weight and promise. It laid out a comprehensive map of the ecosystem, from hardware-level encryption to cryptographic protocols powering the next phase of private computation.
It was a strong start. But as some readers pointed out, it stopped short of offering the actionable comparisons and adoption signals the industry needs next.
This is where independent research, when done right, becomes not just informative, but directional.
Moving from Mapping to Mobilisation
The first Messari report served as an important landscape overview. For many, it clarified the technical primitives of DeCC including fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), multi-party computation (MPC) and gave legitimacy to projects building in the space. It reached beyond crypto-native audiences. Allam recalls outreach from teams at Microsoft and Google, a signal that DeCC is now on the radar of the companies shaping next-gen infrastructure.
But in the aftermath, many teams still had questions. What tradeoffs exist between technologies? How can real-world pilots be evaluated in ways that are replicable and meaningful? And what role should independent researchers play in shaping industry standards?
Anewbiz believes that the next wave of research needs to go deeper. “The first report was a step forward, but it didn’t show us how to compare apples with apples,” he says. “If we’re serious about scaling confidential computing, then the work ahead is not just academic, it’s practical, testable, and shared.”
He outlines a few key areas where a second report could lead:
- Reference architectures to help align tooling and standards
- Shared testbeds for reproducible benchmarking
- Quarterly briefs that track live deployments and interoperability experiments
This isn’t just about clarity for developers—it’s about building trust with institutions, policymakers, and users.
Secret’s View: Confidential Computing as the Missing Layer
At the heart of Secret’s mission is the belief that privacy should be programmable and composable. Confidential computing enables this by allowing smart contracts to process encrypted data without exposing it. This is not an abstract benefit. It unlocks use cases in healthcare, finance, AI training, and identity, domains where regulatory compliance is as critical as cryptographic security.
“DeCC is not about hiding data. It’s about empowering choice,” says Anewbiz. “We’re dealing with real tradeoffs. FHE offers strong privacy but is computationally expensive. Trusted execution environments are faster and cheaper but have a hardware dependency and lower encryption rating. Independent research helps us surface those tradeoffs clearly so that builders can make informed choices.”
Secret has already used findings from Messari’s report to adjust internal thinking on architecture and deployment models. More importantly, it has clarified where the project must lead versus partner.
“Different technologies have different strengths. A good report doesn’t just pick winners, it shows how multiple stacks can interoperate. That’s how you accelerate adoption.”
Toward a More Useful Second Report
The next Messari report, titled Decentralized Confidential Computing: The Trust Layer for AI and Blockchain, is expected to move from theoretical mapping to real-world application. It will explore how AI use cases demand data protection, and why DeCC is emerging as the trust layer for training, deploying, and monetising sensitive models.
But as Anewbiz points out, this second report has the chance to do more than inform. It can coordinate.
He proposes that Messari convene a DeCC working group, one that brings together researchers, developers, and infrastructure providers to align on:
- Open datasets for testing
- Collaboration models across academia, standards bodies, and open-source communities
- Attestation standards for verifying code and compute environments
- And a consistent, comparative evidence base that makes encryption claims comparable across platforms
“Think of it as a reference stack for trust,” he says. “If we want to move fast without breaking trust, we need to move together.”
Why It Matters
Independent research in Web3 has often played catch-up. Too much of the market is shaped by hype, not analysis. But DeCC is different. It is foundational infrastructure, much like TCP/IP was to the web. The choices made now will shape what becomes possible over the next decade.
Done right, independent research does more than describe a landscape. It helps chart the roadmap.
Secret, along with others in the DeCC space, is ready to contribute to that next step.
