'Secret Contracts' Developer Engima Launches Test Blockchain

A built-from-scratch blockchain aiming to enable private contracts between users has officially entered testing.

Announced Saturday

, the news marks the latest step in a journey for startup Engima to launch its own technology – developed at the MIT Media Lab, the project is based on a white paper published in 2015. Initially aimed at the hedge fund sector, Enigma now brands itself as a protocol for "secret contracts," which it demonstrated last month at CoinDesk's Consensus 2018 event.

As such, the announcement means that the technology, a form of modified smart contracts designed to obfuscate the origin of a transaction, as well as allow a blockchain to compute contracts without decrypting them, is now closer to real-world use.

However, in remarks, project leaders were quick to caution expectations.

Stressing the novel nature of the technology, they wrote:

"We acknowledge that development of these types of innovative technologies is non-linear and an ongoing, iterative process. We're not simply forking an existing platform – we're building something completely new and essential, something that will take (and has taken) many people and many days and nights to build."

Still, signs are others are beginning to take an interest in the technology, even at this early stage.

Earlier this month, Enigma announced it was working with technology giant Intel to further develop its platform, as well as applications to run on the protocol.

After the testnet launch, Enigma plans to prepare for a mainnet launch within the next three months, according to its roadmap.

Decryption image via Shutterstock