What is Zero-knowledge (ZK) protocol and why is it gaining massive popularity?
The Crypto community is an ever-evolving ecosystem that is fast-paced, and staying updated with the latest trends can be overwhelming. The year started with massive interest in AI-related coins, this saw AI coins experience bullish rallies in recent months. But in recent times, ZK protocol has been picking up the interest of investors and crypto enthusiasts.
In this article, we will be discussing some basic things you should know about ZK.
What is ZK proof?
Zero-knowledge proof is a method of validating the authenticity of any information or data without direct access to the data or information. For such a situation we have two parties involved, the prover and the verifier.
In blockchain, ZK technology has proven to be useful in scalability and privacy.
The history of ZK
Although ZK is just gaining popularity in recent times, it has been around for quite some time. The concept was first developed in 1985 and the concept has been constantly improved upon over the years to make it more scalable.
Why is there a buzz on ZK?
The growing interest in Zk can be closely linked to Ethereum. Over the years, Ethereum developers have been looking for effective ways of scaling the network to handle higher transactions with faster transaction speed and cheaper gas fees. Zk is showing a beam of hope in solving all these issues.
So it is safe to say that ZK technology will be playing a major role in the future of Ethereum.
Types of ZK in blockchain
In blockchain today we have two types of ZK technologies, ZK-SNARKs and ZK-STARKs.
ZK-SNARKs enables private transactions for cryptocurrencies it was developed by Zcash. So ZK-SNARKs are useful to cryptocurrencies.
ZK-STARK solves the issue of scalability and transparency; it is used by layer 2 blockchains to scale operations.
The future of ZK.
The ZK technology can be used for identification while maintaining the privacy of individuals. Its implementation in Web3 is endless, from improving the privacy of cryptocurrency to scaling layer 2 blockchains.
