Introducing Privana

Privana is the trading interface you'd build if you wanted DeFi done properly: private by default and automated without giving up control. You deposit, set your parameters, and step away. Swaps execute privately, yield runs almost entirely on its own.

Why we built Privana

If you’ve ever traded on a DEX you’ve probably been frontrun. This is because most swaps on a DEX are public before they settle. Your transaction sits in the mempool for a few seconds, and during that window every bot on the network can see what you're doing.

A simple swap can get attacked in multiple ways and cost you a significant portion of what you expected to receive. This has been happening for a long time and it's costing users millions of dollars a year. Private RPCs and relays hide your transaction from most of the network, but the relay operator still sees your full swap intent.

You've moved the trust, not fully removed it. CEXes fix the visibility problem as trades settle on their internal books. But now they hold your keys, and you're exposed to everything that comes with that.Other solutions are working on pieces of this. Some DEXes have degrees of MEV protection, but your activity is still visible onchain. Privacy-focused swaps exist, but without self-custodied automation.

Cross-chain routing moves assets efficiently, but isn't private by default. Privana addresses all of this at once. Privacy, aggregation, and automated execution with full self-custody across multiple chains.

How Privana works

When you deposit into Privana, your assets enter a shared vault on the destination chain. Every user's deposits pool into the same vault address. External observers see one large address, not yours. Individual trades can't be attributed to you.

The vault runs on Oasis Sapphire, a confidential blockchain where every smart contract operates inside a hardware-isolated enclave (TEE). The vault's private key lives in that enclave and has never existed outside it. Even with full server access, no one can extract it. This is the same trust model Fireblocks and Anchorage use for institutional custody, now available to all DeFi users.

Swaps can settle entirely inside the vault with no on-chain transaction generated at all. When internal liquidity isn't available, trades route through LiFi across integrated DEXes like Uniswap, Curve, and others. Those trades are visible on-chain from the vault address, but still can't be traced back to you.

The only on-chain activity tied to your personal wallet is your deposit in and your withdrawal out. Stablecoins you're not actively trading get directed to vetted yield protocols based on rules you set. It runs on its own, and you can pull out anytime.

If Privana goes down tomorrow, no problem. A smart contract on Ethereum monitors system liveness, and if the enclave is unresponsive for seven days, your vault keys are reconstructed and released to you so you can sweep your funds directly. No dependence on Privana to get your assets back.

Why does this matter

Privana is built on a concept from Cornell Tech research called key encumbrance, implemented by the Oasis Network. What it enables, beyond privacy, is something DeFi has truly never had: a key that can enforce your rules and execute on your behalf without manual signing.

Right now on any DEX, you connect, swap, disconnect. If the market moves overnight, you probably missed it. If your position hits a number you had in mind but you're busy, nothing happens. Taking profit means reconnecting your wallet, doing it by hand. That's been the ceiling for self-custody, because the moment a DEX executes for you, it needs your key. And the moment it has your key, it's custodial.

Privana breaks this barrier. You deposit, define your preferences, and the hardware executes within those rules whether you're around or not. Profit-take thresholds, scheduled rebalances, stables routing to yield: you configure once and it persists over time. At no point does anyone have access to the vault's signing key. Instead, imagine your activity needs to convince programmed policies to get access to the signature, the key never exposed at any point.

Privana gives you the convenience of a centralized exchange and the self-custody of your own wallet, with privacy baked in. Privana gives you a better outcome.

What's coming next

Privana launches with private swaps, best-route execution across multiple DEXes, algorithmic order splitting, idle yield automation, and a full vault dashboard. The initial launch covers Ethereum, Base, and HyperEVM, with more chains coming through a LiFi integration.

Privana's closed beta is coming soon. Early access includes zero trading fees for 90 days and permanent founding member status with real benefits. If you want to help us shape the future of how DeFi works, join the waitlist.

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