Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)

A trusted execution environment, or TEE, is an isolated area of a processor — such as Intel SGX or ARM TrustZone — that runs code and holds keys where the host operating system cannot read or modify them. In crypto it is used for confidential computation, private order matching, multi-party signing setups and oracle services, and by some wallets and validators to protect signing keys. A TEE can also produce a remote attestation: a signed statement about exactly which code is running inside. The trade-off is that its security depends on the chip vendor and its firmware, and researchers have repeatedly found side-channel and speculative-execution flaws in commercial designs. Treat a TEE as one layer of defence, never as a guarantee.