What Is the Difference between a Private Mempool and an Encrypted Mempool?

A private mempool relies on trust; transactions are sent unencrypted to a trusted third party (a relay or builder) who promises not to reveal them. An encrypted mempool is a trustless system where transactions are encrypted before being submitted to a public pool.

Validators can see the encrypted transactions but cannot decrypt their contents (like the amount or destination) until they are committed to a block. This prevents MEV extraction based on transaction content while removing the need to trust a centralized relay.