When Cows Meet Cryptography: 4 Metaphors to Illustrate ZK, FHE, MPC, and TEE

Written by: NEBRA in Proof Summer

Compiled by: TechFlow

1. ZK

You have some milk.

You can prove that the milk came from 2 cows, but you don't know which 2 cows they were or how they produced the milk.

2. FHE (Fully Homomorphic Encryption)

You have a milking machine.

You can produce milk without knowing whether 2 cows exist.

3. MPC (Multi-party Computation)

You and your neighbor jointly own 2 cows.

You can each milk the cow, but no one knows which part of the cow you are milking.

4. TEE (Trusted Execution Environment)

You have 2 cows.

You keep them in a secure barn where no one else can enter.

Cows can only be milked in the cowshed.