In its young age, the crypto landscape has experienced way too many fraud incidents, cybercrime and virtual theft. The general public has grown increasingly sceptical toward crypto, losing their initial trust and optimism. Therefore, the most talented individuals in crypto are working vigorously to find new ways to secure the blockchain ecosystems.
The zero-knowledge proof theory stands proudly above the rest, offering a unique methodology to keep the blockchain systems safe.
What Are ZK-Proofs?
The zero-knowledge proof (ZK-proof) principle was invented at MIT University in the 1980s, offering one of the most fool-proof methods to secure information. This principle puts a lid on the probability of cyber breaches within any digital system. Also, As the name implies, this methodology strives to verify data without requiring participants to review the entire information.
To an untrained eye, this methodology might seem paradoxical. How is it possible to check the information at hand without verifying the entire content? Let’s explore a trivial example of ZK-proofs.
ZK-Proofs In Practice
Let’s imagine that two parties are engaged in a ZK-proof procedure. Party X possesses two balls with red and blue colours and wants to make sure that Party Y can tell the difference between these objects. The catch is that Party X doesn’t know which colour is which. So, how is it possible for party X to ensure this information without finding out the colours?
The answer requires a bit of maths knowledge in this case. Party X can show the two balls to Party Y several times successively. Each time, Party X will randomly change the position of the balls or not change them at all. After doing so 15-20 times, if party Y guesses all the colours correctly, there is an astronomically low chance that they will get lucky. To showcase this probability by maths – there is a one out of two chance to guess the balls the first time, one out of four the second time and so on. By the twentieth time, the chances are one out of several billion, which makes it practically impossible to fake the information knowledge. ZK-proofs work similarly, letting two parties verify information without exposing themselves to the entire content.
The Many Use Cases of ZK-Proofs
The practical applications for utilising ZK-proofs are virtually limitless, as information security is essential in the modern digital world. ZK-proofs can be helpful in politics, manufacturing, finance, law, tech, healthcare and numerous other industries. Any business could greatly benefit from adding a sturdy security layer to its informational channels.
Individuals can obtain and send information, documents and other types of data without risking their local networks’ integrity. Moreover, ZK-proofs could be expanded into larger systems that would ensure data security beyond simple transactions.
Currently, ZK-proofs have two significant variations – ZK rollups and ZK snarks. ZK snarks take the underlying zero-knowledge principle even further, ensuring that parties don’t need to look at even a fraction of the transactional data.
Advantages of ZK-proofs
While ZK-proofs are a relatively unproven technology, the fundamental concept is up-and-coming and could solve numerous problems in the blockchain landscape. Let’s discuss.
Security and Privacy
As discussed above, ZKPs are the perfect solution to minimising the abundant security concerns for blockchain networks. Cyber attacks usually happen due to data exposure instead of pure technical hacking. Phishing attacks and similar crimes depend on tricking the network users somehow. But, there will be nothing to exploit if the data is no longer available to most market participants.
Secondly, ZKPs are great news for individual users, potentially allowing them to sign up on digital accounts and interact with online platforms without disclosing their private information.
Ease of Use
Although ZKP adoption is quite a tall order, they will not pose a challenge for users technically. After all, ZKPs will act as automated protocols, not unlike encryption methods, which means that users will not have to face technical difficulties to utilise this innovative technology.
Final Remarks
With its fool-proof concept to ensure maximum security, the zero-knowledge proofs have limitless potential to prevent cyber threats. ZKPs are a perfect development for the crypto field, as they can win over the sceptical public and ensure that it is safe to utilise blockchain technology once again.