Where will ZKP technology take us next? Deeper into Web3, DeFi and the metaverse, according to a new survey of developers and the crypto community.
Piloting this exhilarating warp-drive voyage will be innovative companies like Findora, creators of a leading zero-knowledge public blockchain.
The Mina Foundation released its ironically named “State of Zero-Knowledge Report 2022” earlier this month, and the findings are the latest indication that cryptographers, crypto traders and developers are bullish about the ways zero knowledge proofs can accelerate change across a wide range of economic sectors.
Of the nearly 2,000 respondents, 46 percent heralded the scalability and privacy potential of ZKPs. An overwhelming 90 percent prefer investing in cryptocurrencies that incorporate ZKPs, rather than alternatives that lack this privacy-shielding feature. More than three-quarters say ZKPs will play a key role in the development of Web3 and the metaverse.
When it comes to real-world applications, 40 percent cite the finance industry as the sector that is likely to benefit the most from use of ZKPs. Healthcare, social media, e-commerce, gaming and entertainment were further down the list.
As for the metaverse, some observers see ZKPs as the key to helping people — and their virtual selves — feel secure in this new looking-glass world. O(1) Labs developer Bijan Shahrokhi has warned of a “dystopian, surveillance-based digital future” if privacy and security are not built into the experience.
“There is hope for an alternative — a digital universe that enables genuine connections between people and empowers us to address urgent issues,” he recently wrote. “If people — not corporations — are going to write the rules of the metaverse, we need a secure and private way for people to prove they are who they say they are. This is where Zero Knowledge Proofs come in.”
It was not long ago that ZKP was seen as a mostly theoretical invention whose practical uses were not well understood or even imagined. The survey shows ZKP is generating a new level of excitement about its current practicality and future promise. It’s another example of industry sentiment waking up to the dramatic advances being made in ZKP technology by leaders such as Findora.
Findora’s innovations in programmable privacy are a template for the privacy and anonymity that users will need to feel secure with DeFi transactions — or when entering a virtual world created by an inscrutable billionaire.
Findora offers privacy-centric designs that utilize ZKP to shield transaction details without compromising network security. Users are able to selectively disclose transactions, based on their own personal preferences. The sender and recipient always have the option to unmask hidden data.
The platform’s architecture improves the ability of users to protect their privacy on the blockchain, and supports the building of privacy-based dApps (decentralized applications).
The platform uses Bulletproofs and specialized zero-knowledge cryptography such as zk-SNARK (Turbo-PLONK). To solve identity authentication issues, Findora designers devised an address identity registry that greatly expands potential use cases.
The future that awaits at the end of these remarkable advances is one of limitless possibilities. Taking a long historical view, it could also turn out to be uncannily familiar. After all, it was Socrates who may have first imagined ZKP technology nearly 2,500 years ago with his famous aphorism: “The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.”
