Explain Like I'm 5
Imagine a big city (that’s the blockchain) where right now, everyone has to live in glass houses. This means banks can’t move in because they can’t keep money safe, game makers can’t build arcades because everyone would see the secret game rules, and doctors can’t help patients because medical records would be public. It’s a huge problem!
Now there’s a new special city called Gateway that changes everything:
- You can have glass houses where everything is visible (public state)
- Regular houses with walls and curtains (encrypted state)
- And most importantly, you can build things using BOTH types at once! (unified state)
The city has a magical helper called the GVM (Gateway Virtual Machine) that makes this all possible:
- It’s like a super-smart construction worker who can build both types of houses
- When you want to build something, you don’t need to learn new rules - you use the same building blocks as before
- The GVM automatically knows how to handle the private parts (encrypted) and public parts together
- It makes sure everything is still safe and works correctly, even when mixing public and private stuff
To make the city even more amazing, there are special helper buildings (the PET marketplace):
- A super-secure treehouse (TEE) that’s like a special room with unbreakable walls where even the most secret stuff can happen safely - perfect for things like private AI or handling really important secrets
- A magical post office (PRE) that can pass secret messages between people without ever opening them - like giving someone permission to check your credit score without showing them all your bank details
- A special storage facility (DFS) that’s like a magical filing cabinet where your private files are broken into tiny pieces and scattered around, but only you can put them back together
- A blindfolded helper (GC) who can help you work with secret information without ever seeing it - like a math teacher who can check your work without seeing your answers!
The really amazing part is that all these helpers work together. You could:
- Keep your game moves secret while showing the final score
- Let a bank check if you can afford a loan without seeing your exact bank balance
- Run a business where some parts are public but your secret recipe stays private
This is huge because other blockchain cities can ONLY do things publicly. It’s like trying to run an entire city where everyone has to live in glass houses - it just doesn’t work for a lot of important stuff! But now, with Gateway, you can finally build all those things that needed privacy, while still keeping the good parts of blockchain like making sure everyone plays fair!