Mina Foundation CEO: Zero-knowledge proofs will become a killer feature of Web3

Author: Evan Shapiro, CEO of Mina Foundation
Over the past year, trends indicate that zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) will play a significant role in the future of cryptocurrency and Web3, enabling scalability and user-permissioned privacy. This is exciting because it lays the groundwork for the introduction of zero-knowledge (ZK) applications in the crypto ecosystem (aligning with the timeline I proposed and my predictions:) and establishing it as a killer feature of Web3.

Web3

Web3 is a widely used term, but its definition is vague. Optimistically, its best definition is that Web3 will provide the decentralization of Web1, the richness of Web2, while addressing many of the shortcomings of Web2.

Web2 has many issues: centralization leads to hacks, data breaches, and the ruthless exploitation of users for profit, with no one raising objections. These are systemic problems.

Web3 brings user-centric values, decentralization, and cryptography, which are expected to address some of these issues.

Putting aside the optimistic ultimate definition, I believe that today's Web3 is actually just the user experience of accessing cryptocurrency via the web and the ecosystem built around it. It opens up many exciting possibilities; decentralized finance, NFT markets, decentralized organizations, and so on.

However, it lacks some key components that could bring about broader impacts.

Web3 and Privacy

Under Web2, we have become accustomed to a federated privacy model. In this architecture, we retain the privacy of personal information from general network participants while relinquishing privacy rights to specific entities we interact with.

While this opens up design space for personal data processing, it also brings significant counterparty risks. Data breaches, the monetization of private data, and the permanent availability of leaked data are major flaws of this architecture.

On the other hand, Web3 lacks functionality for private data. While this means it does not have to deal with the privacy shortcomings of Web2, it has so far also lacked this component. In Web3, you are not interacting with a centralized entity but with a decentralized network. While this does eliminate the downsides of shared data and counterparty risks, interacting with decentralized entities also brings new challenges, namely how to establish trust in this new environment.

If Web3 is to be competitive in widespread applications, it will be essential to change this status quo and introduce privacy features. Otherwise, it will not be suitable for numerous use cases such as bank accounts, online shopping, identity, social networks, and business transactions, or it could create a worse privacy environment than Web2 when transitioning to cryptocurrency for other improvements.

Web3 and Security

Web2 also has other obvious issues of power concentration, which, in addition to the loss of privacy, brings many other adverse consequences to users. Theoretically, Web3 has a tremendous opportunity to eliminate this hazard, rather than declaring the rules of its system with decentralized code.

However, today's cryptocurrency has not realized this potential. If you are running a full node, you will gain complete, mathematically guaranteed cryptographic security provided by the cryptocurrency. However, for most cryptocurrencies or users, running a full node is not feasible. It requires expensive hardware and the need to download and stay connected to a large blockchain of 100 GB.

This paradigm issue is particularly evident in Web3. A crypto client running in a browser cannot handle these demands.

As a result, today's Web3 relies on centralized entities that require trust to operate, connecting intermediaries to the decentralized network behind Web3. This is concerning because it replicates many of the related patterns already present in Web2. As we enter the new year, Moxie Marlinspike detailed this in an article --- the few centralized services acting as intermediaries in this field are replicating the same patterns as Web2, only on a larger scale. Combined with the aforementioned privacy issues, these entities possess super ISP power, allowing them to read and control access to all data, which is a disaster for user sovereignty.

Entities like Infura and Alchemy are a weakness in the decentralized opportunities of Web3. Users in Venezuela and Ukraine recently found their access to Infura was censored. While so far these powers have been limited to specific regions, it would not be surprising if these access points became tools for governments to broadly control cryptocurrency, and if the entrepreneurs behind these access points favored certain projects over others and profited widely from Web3.

The Impact of Zero-Knowledge Proofs

These security and privacy issues are technical problems. Fortunately, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) cleverly address these issues. In terms of privacy, ZKP allows users to privately share information with decentralized networks while ensuring the data is authenticated, providing security assurances to the network. In terms of security, ZKP can guarantee that the data users receive from the network is genuine, without needing to trust a third party.

This also opens up our usual patterns from Web2, where applications share trusted information with each other. However, the decentralization of Web3 simultaneously eliminates the possibility of applications betraying trust, which is common in the centralized world of Web2.

In terms of privacy, we can think about the potential of ZKP in identity verification issues. Suppose we want to create an NFT collection where each person can own at most one NFT from the collection. Simply doing so would require users to disclose their identities. However, using ZKP, users can demonstrate proof of their identity's uniqueness without revealing their specific identity. In a Web2 environment, a centralized entity would be needed to track users to ensure their uniqueness. In a typical Web3 scenario, users are required to disclose their identities and corresponding NFTs. But in a Web3 with ZKP, this can be done completely privately while providing all the same assurances people desire.

In terms of security, we can envision a cryptocurrency world where most financial states are accessed through the network. By proving on-chain states with ZKP, DeFi users can be assured that the account states they see on the network truly match the on-chain states, thus ensuring security. From the user's perspective, this is akin to the transition from HTTP to HTTPS, minus the risk of censorship.

The new functionalities provided by ZKP will not only open up Web2 functionalities to Web3 but will also greatly expand the range of new possibilities available in Web3. Here are some ZKP-enhanced applications that can be built:

• Everyone can own one NFT from a set

• Allow tweet authors to generate NFTs from their tweets in a decentralized manner

• Users can prove ownership of a subset of NFTs without revealing the specific NFTs they own

• Generate non-transferable NFTs to identify real-world or digital achievements (e.g., I am a major contributor to an open-source project)

• Twitter users can create DAOs for their followers

• Unlock anonymous voting for DAOs

• Connect existing financial data to the crypto world to help guide DeFi

The numerous enhancements offered by ZKP will be a significant breakthrough for Web3, allowing it to provide a better experience than Web2. While Web2 struggles with handling sensitive user data and privacy, Web3 will win through ZKP. It will address one of the biggest pain points for users of centralized networks and accelerate the migration to Web3, surpassing the speed we see in DeFi, NFTs, or other emerging waves.

In short, if we want to create a brand new, decentralized internet, we will need security, scalability, and privacy --- zero-knowledge technology is the best solution.

Why Now in 2022

This raises the question, why now? One reason is that Web3 has achieved massive growth over the past 12 to 18 months, creating an environment for further experimentation and development.

At the same time, it is a good time for zero-knowledge (ZK) because this technology is now ready to be applied in this field. The technical improvements made in 2020 allowed zero-knowledge to be more widely introduced in 2021, gaining significant attention as a primary tool for scaling with ZK Rollups. In 2021, the verification and proof performance of ZKP also saw further technical improvements --- Mina's SNARK Kimchi is 4-6 times faster compared to last year while maintaining its lightweight and efficient proof size.

Following the cryptographic developments mentioned above, in 2021 we saw a significant amount of development in ZK programmable products. ZK programmability means ZK goes beyond scaling, zkRollups, or zkEVM. The next step will bring more powerful dapps that fully leverage the core functionalities of ZK, which we call zkApps.

In 2021, O(1) Labs released an early version of Mina zkApp. This was the first time developers could write ZK using widely used languages (like Typescript). O(1) recently held the first workshop and hackathon for Mina's ZK smart contracts in December 2021, with more similar plans for this year. At Mina, we see a tremendous opportunity to unleash all the potential ZKP offers developers through ZK programmability.

With SnarkyJS supporting simple ZK programming, developers are already building with it, and the Mina to Ethereum zkBridge is taking shape, and soon we will start to see all the ZK application examples mentioned above deployed on Web3.

Whether it's Mina launching the first batch of applications or broader industry adoption of ZK technology, ZK will join Web3 DAPP in 2022.

Other Related zk Predictions for 2022 and Beyond

The ZK era in the crypto space has begun, and it will have a significant impact on Web3. I believe we will also witness the following this year:

• As Web3 takes off, we will see an increasing demand from users for privacy and security. ZKP will become the most promising tool to help users take control of their data and selectively share personal information. This will lead to a large-scale migration of users back to Web3, further undermining Web2-based networks.

• ZK applications will first launch in the most obvious areas: voting and private identity management, with rollups playing an important role in this development.

• At least one zkEVM will release a beta version by the end of the year.

• At least one major tech company will announce related collaborations with ZKP --- it may be too early for products now, but team formations or significant research efforts will unfold.

In addition, we are seeing a broader rollout timeline for ZKP becoming a current focus. Looking back, I predict we will see it unfold along the following timeline: Before 2020 --- Laying the technical foundation

2020 --- Underlying cryptography reaches a functional tipping point

2021 --- ZKP emerges, with a clear understanding of how they will break through ( see last year's predictions）

2022 --- As ZKP begins to become a differentiated product and an important component of scaling and other aspects, disruption begins and takes off

2023/2024 --- As ZKP becomes a major component of product growth, disruption unfolds comprehensively

2024/2025 --- Applications utilizing ZKP and ZKP platforms dominate

2025/2026 --- The generalization of ZKP and ZKP-driven platforms

Final Thoughts

As zero-knowledge proofs and cryptographic technology become mainstream for building scalable, privacy-protecting, and secure Web3, we will have the opportunity to build truly empowering technology for users.

Fortunately, we see a vision in Web3 that executes goals based on value as a product. We can see that cryptocurrency has already achieved some feats, such as the transition from PoW to PoS. As cryptocurrency continues to have a more profound impact on the world, we look forward to achieving more accomplishments. At Mina, we are excited to continue driving this participant-driven culture and look forward to building the future together with our community.