Guy Itzhaki is the chief executive officer of Fhenix, a company focused on bringing fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) to public blockchains to enable private smart contracts and confidential computation. Before Fhenix, he led initiatives at Intel related to confidential computing, blockchain, and homomorphic encryption ^{[1] [2]}.

Education

Itzhaki earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics (1997–2000) and an MBA with Distinction (2000–2002), both from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. These credentials have been listed in public professional directories and speaker materials associated with his later roles in cryptography-centric computing and blockchain privacy ^[3].

Career

Itzhaki’s career spans long-term leadership at Intel and later his role building FHE-powered blockchain infrastructure at Fhenix.

Intel (2016–2023)

Public role listings and interviews place Itzhaki in multiple Intel leadership positions connected to confidential computing and blockchain ecosystem development. He served as Confidential Computing and Blockchain Ecosystem Development Manager (2016–2019), subsequently managed partnerships around Olympic Games metaverse experiences (2020–2022), and most recently was Director of Homomorphic Encryption and Blockchain Business Development (2022–2023). Event bios and interviews describe him as having led Intel’s work in FHE, blockchain, and trusted execution environments (TEEs), with his confidential-compute focus beginning around mid‑2017 ^{[3] [2]}.

During his Intel tenure, Itzhaki worked with financial institutions on confidential-compute use cases and early blockchain pilots. He has described building a permissioned blockchain for a leading stock exchange—implemented with TEEs and developed alongside Accenture—to create a decentralized marketplace for securities lending. He has also noted involvement in Olympic and Paralympic innovation initiatives such as metaverse experiences and indoor navigation for visually impaired athletes, reflecting a portfolio that bridged cryptography, ecosystem development, and experiential computing projects ^{[4] [1]}.

Fhenix (2023–present)

In 2023 Itzhaki left Intel to lead Fhenix as CEO. Public profiles and interviews characterize Fhenix as developing a privacy infrastructure layer that applies fully homomorphic encryption to public blockchain environments, particularly Ethereum and EVM-compatible systems. Fhenix’s stated aim is to enable private smart contracts and confidential on-chain computation without exposing plaintext data to executors or validators. In late 2023, Itzhaki outlined a roadmap that included a public testnet planned for the first quarter of 2024 and a mainnet target for early 2025; he also described a developer-facing “FHEVM” (an EVM-compatible virtual machine) intended to let Solidity developers write privacy-preserving contracts without needing to master FHE primitives ^{[1] [5]}.

Coverage and company communications in 2025–2026 describe expanding ecosystem work around Fhenix. An Arbitrum platform announcement in May 2025 presented coFHE—an FHE-powered coprocessor by Fhenix—alongside an integration with Arbitrum’s Nitro stack, and included Itzhaki’s statement that developers building on Arbitrum could enable encrypted computation “with just a single line of code.” The same announcement disclosed that Offchain Labs had a financial interest in Fhenix. Subsequent public recaps and panels in 2026 continued to position Fhenix around “FHE rollups,” a design approach that combines rollup methods with encrypted computation to provide data confidentiality at scale ^{[6] [7]}.

Notable Projects and Milestones

• Confidential-compute ecosystem work at Intel: From mid‑2017, Itzhaki led efforts involving TEEs and blockchain pilots with financial institutions, including a TEE-based securities lending marketplace for a stock exchange in collaboration with Accenture ^{[1] [4]}.
• Transition to FHE business development at Intel: In the later stages of his Intel tenure, he focused on homomorphic encryption for business development, culminating in his move to Fhenix in 2023 ^{[3] [2]}.
• Fhenix roadmap and positioning: As of late 2023, he outlined a public testnet targeted for Q1 2024 and a mainnet goal for early 2025, and introduced the FHEVM concept to lower adoption barriers for Solidity developers ^[1].
• Arbitrum Nitro and coFHE: In May 2025, an Arbitrum publication described how coFHE (Fhenix’s coprocessor) compiles FHE logic into WASM within the Nitro stack and quoted Itzhaki on enabling encrypted computation via a simple integration step. The same post disclosed Offchain Labs’ financial interest in Fhenix ^[6].
• Public panels and Spaces on FHE rollups: In April 2026, Fhenix published a recap of a public Space featuring Itzhaki and industry investors and researchers discussing encrypted execution for Ethereum and beyond ^[7].

Views and Positions

Itzhaki’s public commentary emphasizes several recurring themes:

• Developer accessibility: He has advocated for abstractions like FHEVM so that Ethereum developers can add confidentiality without becoming specialists in FHE, describing reduced friction as essential for adoption ^[1].
• Architectural pragmatism: He has framed “FHE rollups” as a systems-level strategy to marry confidentiality with the scaling and verification patterns used in rollups, with an eye on cost management and compatibility with existing EVM tooling ^[8].
• Complementarity with ZK and TEEs: Itzhaki distinguishes between encrypted execution (FHE) and verification (ZK), while acknowledging that many applications may combine approaches; TEEs remain part of the practical toolbox in certain deployment contexts. This comparative perspective appears across his media discussions ^{[4] [1]}.
• Performance considerations: He has noted that FHE’s computational overheads are a primary challenge and has pointed to algorithmic improvements, specialized hardware, and architectural design as avenues to reach practical performance. Later public Spaces and recaps have echoed that the ecosystem is approaching a readiness inflection as these elements progress ^[7].

Interviews

Privacy and Confidential Smart Contracts #01

On March 13, 2026, Guy Itzhaki participated in an interview with David from Genzio during ETHDenver 2026. The discussion focused on privacy-related infrastructure in blockchain networks, including applications involving stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), institutional blockchain usage, and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).

During the interview, Itzhaki discussed the use of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) within the Fhenix ecosystem. FHE is a cryptographic method that enables computations to be executed on encrypted data without exposing the underlying information. According to Itzhaki, the project’s approach is centered on transaction confidentiality rather than user anonymity, with the intention of supporting compliance processes such as KYC and AML while limiting public access to transaction details.

The interview also addressed the project’s transition from the development of a Layer 2 network to a privacy infrastructure model based on an FHE co-processor designed for compatibility with EVM-based blockchains. Itzhaki stated that the system was developed to integrate with Solidity-based development environments and existing blockchain applications.

Additional topics included shielded stablecoin transactions, confidential smart contract functionality, privacy features for financial applications, and research related to scalable and quantum-resistant cryptographic systems. The interview referenced planned infrastructure and SDK developments associated with a projected mainnet release in 2026. ^[12]

Fhenix CEO on Encrypted Blockchain Privacy #02

On April 1, 2026, Guy Itzhaki participated in an interview with Eric Spivak on the YouTube channel Blockster during the Digital Asset Summit in New York. The discussion focused on blockchain privacy, fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), and the use of encrypted computation in decentralized systems.

During the interview, Itzhaki described privacy in blockchain networks as a model based on selective confidentiality rather than complete anonymity. He stated that some institutions and decentralized finance platforms seek systems capable of limiting public access to transaction-related data while maintaining compliance procedures associated with KYC and AML frameworks.

Itzhaki stated that Fhenix applies fully homomorphic encryption to allow computations to be performed on encrypted data without exposing the underlying information. He compared this approach with zero-knowledge proof systems, describing FHE as a method intended for encrypted computation and confidential data processing within blockchain environments.

According to Itzhaki, Fhenix was designed to operate across EVM-compatible networks, including Arbitrum, Base, and Ethereum, through Solidity-compatible smart contracts. He also stated that the system was developed as a modular infrastructure layer intended to integrate with existing blockchain applications.

The interview also addressed topics related to stablecoins, tokenization, and post-quantum cryptography. Itzhaki stated that the long-term storage of blockchain data may create security considerations if future advances in quantum computing affect current encryption standards. ^[13]