Opening Up Rayls Enygma - Why We’re Releasing It Under a Dual License (SSPL + Commercial)

When we first built Rayls Enygma, our privacy-preserving engine for EVM-compatible blockchains, our goal was to offer a powerful, verifiable, and compliant privacy layer that could be used both by open-source developers and by regulated institutions. As described in our earlier posts:

• What is Rayls Enygma? | Rayls
• Inside the engine of scalable privacy | Rayls
• Rethinking Privacy for Blockchain Adoption | Rayls

Enygma was designed from day one to balance confidentiality, auditability, and enterprise-grade requirements. It enables confidential transactions, private DvP/PvP atomic swaps, secure state updates, and selective auditability, with cryptographic guarantees based on homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, and private message tagging.

Today, we are excited to announce that we are making the Enygma code public, using a dual-license model: SSPL + Commercial.

This approach allows us to support open innovation while giving institutions and enterprise users a compliant and flexible path to adopt Enygma without being forced to open-source their internal or proprietary code.

Let’s walk through what this means, why we chose this model, and how it differs from other open-source licenses such as GPLv3.

What Enygma Is - A Quick Recap

As introduced in our previous articles, Enygma is a programmable privacy engine, EVM-compatible, that enables private computation and confidential asset interactions without sacrificing regulatory compliance or verifiability. It was created to address the real-world constraints of financial institutions and DeFi protocols alike:

Key capabilities include:

• Confidential transfers and hidden balances
• Anonymous transacting parties
• Private DvP/PvP swaps with on-chain settlement
• Selective auditability via view keys and controlled disclosure
• Encrypted state management using homomorphic primitives
• High throughput and scalable architecture designed to handle institutional workloads

Enygma sits at the intersection of cryptography, blockchain, and compliance, enabling privacy that does not compromise verifiability, safety, or enterprise adoption.

Why We Are Making Enygma Open

We believe that privacy infrastructure must be transparent, reviewable, and verifiable. By making Enygma public:

• Developers can inspect and validate the cryptography.
• Institutions can evaluate the security guarantees with full visibility.
• The ecosystem can build trusted standards for privacy-preserving blockchain infrastructure.
• Community contributions and audits can strengthen the protocol.

However, transparency alone isn’t enough. Institutions also need commercial clarity and legal certainty when integrating open-source technology into regulated products.

This is where dual licensing comes in.

Why SSPL + Commercial License (Dual License)

To release Enygma in a way that supports both open-source adoption and enterprise needs, we selected a dual-license model consisting of:

1. Server Side Public License (SSPL)

A strong copyleft, source-available license that allows anyone to:

• Use
• Modify
• Redistribute

Enygma - as long as they release all the code necessary to run any service that uses Enygma.

2. A Proprietary Commercial License

A license that allows institutions to:

• Distribute products using Enygma without open-sourcing their own code
• Offer Enygma-powered services without releasing infrastructure
• Embed Enygma inside proprietary enterprise software
• License software that uses Enygma to clients
• Comply with governance, regulatory frameworks, and confidentiality requirements

This dual-license strategy combines openness, transparency, and commercial viability.

This dual approach ensures:

• Open availability for developers and public-sector or academic projects
• Commercial flexibility for enterprises and institutional customers
• Long-term sustainability for Enygma development and maintenance

What SSPL Allows and Requires

SSPL is intentionally designed to ensure that public users remain open-source contributors.

Under SSPL, you can:

• Use Enygma freely
• Modify the code
• Redistribute it
• Run Enygma internally with no obligations (no code disclosure required)

This includes internal systems in financial institutions, banks, fintechs, and enterprise IT.

However, if you:

• Distribute a product containing Enygma, or
• Offer Enygma as a service to customers

then SSPL requires that you release all the source code needed to run that service - not just Enygma modifications, but the entire service stack.

Or obtain a commercial license.

Why Not GPLv3? (And How This Differs)

GPLv3 is a strong copyleft license, but it only triggers obligations when distributing binaries.

It does not cover cloud services or SaaS deployments.

With GPLv3:

• A company can run Enygma as a service without sharing their code
• Copyleft applies only when binaries or embedded products are distributed

With SSPL:

• Running Enygma as a service triggers the requirement to release the source code
• Both distribution and service provision are covered

This distinction is crucial:
SSPL protects against proprietary SaaS appropriation in ways GPLv3 cannot.

But because of this strength, enterprises need a commercial license if they want to integrate Enygma privately without exposing their systems.

What This Means for Institutions and Partners

If you're an institutional customer (bank, fintech, custodian, exchange, tokenization provider, or blockchain infrastructure team), you now have two clear paths:

1. Use SSPL - Open Model

• Full source available
• Can self-host or modify internally
• No disclosure required if strictly internal
• Must open-source everything if distributed or used to serve customers

2. Use the Commercial License - Proprietary Model

• Build proprietary products
• Keep infrastructure closed
• Distribute Enygma-powered software without restrictions
• Comply fully with confidentiality and regulatory requirements

This provides maximum clarity and flexibility - a simple decision tree that aligns with nearly every customer’s needs.

The Future of Open, Compliant Privacy Infrastructure

Making Enygma public marks a key milestone in our mission to accelerate privacy-preserving blockchain adoption. Privacy must be both transparent and compliant, and licensing must reflect the needs of real-world builders - from open-source developers to financial institutions deploying critical infrastructure.

The dual-license approach lets us:

• Empower the community
• Protect the ecosystem
• Support enterprise adoption
• Sustain long-term development

We’re excited to open this next chapter and build the future of provable, compliant, scalable privacy together.

If you want to discuss enterprise licensing, integration support, or technical onboarding, reach out - we’re here to help.

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