Tested on Ethereum, StarkWare’s Zero-Knowledge Proofs are now live on Bitcoin
The newly launched ZeroSync Association brings Zero Knowledge Certificates (ZKPs) to life Bitcoin (BTC), allowing users to validate the state of the network without having to download hundreds of gigabytes of blockchain history or trust a third party.
Based in Zug, Switzerland, the ZeroSync Association is a non-profit entity supported by various community actors, including core contributors Robert Linus, Tino Steffens, Lukas George and Max Gillett, as well as supporting partners, such as Lightning Labs, among others.
For the first version of the software, ZeroSync uses Cairo, the programming language brought to life by StarkWare, the Israel-based company that develops popular Ethereum layer-2 scaling solutions StarkEx and StarkNet.
“ZeroSync is the first production attempt to radically upgrade the Bitcoin protocol,” StarkWare Ecosystem Manager Louis Guthmann told Decrypt. “It would change the way people think about the system at a fundamental level.”
StarkWare’s version of ZKPs, often referred to as zk-STARKs, does not require the potentially vulnerable trust setup phase, while claiming to be more scalable and efficient than zk-SNARKs – an iteration of ZKP used by the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, for example. Zcash.
StarkWare originally distributed zk-STARKs exclusively on Ethereum blockchain, and seeing them go live on Bitcoin “is a logical next step,” according to Uri Kolodny, CEO and co-founder of StarkWare Industries.
“This could have a profound effect on how Bitcoin users interact with the network,” Kolodny said in a statement shared with Decrypt.
Faster Bitcoin blockchain synchronization
To give Bitcoin developers easy access to ZKPs, ZeroSync is developing a software development kit (SDK) that allows them to generate custom proofs of validity depending on individual use cases.
A central part of this SDK is ZeroSync’s client which enables rapid initial block download (IBD) and implementation of the first full proof-of-Bitcoin consensus.
Synchronizing the Bitcoin blockchain can be a painful process, depending on the speed of your internet connection, downloading transaction history can take days or even weeks, with new blocks added every ten minutes on average.
According to ZeroSync, the client can not only be used to sync a full node much faster, but also without having to make any code changes to the Bitcoin Core software.
The technology can also be used to compress the transaction history of validation protocols such as Taro, a protocol for issuing stablecoins on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, or, for example, to enable Bitcoin exchanges and custodian services to provide proof-of-reserves.
“After years of frustration with slow sync, users will be able to sync with the network much faster and with less computation. It’s a technological leap similar to the transition from slow dial-up Internet to high-speed broadband,” said STARK co-inventor and StarkWare president Eli Ben-Sasson.
While StarkWare, which is funding the initiative along with Geometry Research, plans to keep its focus on Ethereum, for Ben-Sasson personally, this development “closes a circle.”
The StarkWare president recalled a Bitcoin conference held in 2013 where he had his “eureka” moment and recognized that the cryptography he helped invent could change the blockchain.
“But it was clear that the journey had to start on Ethereum. Now, exactly ten years later, STARKs has proven itself on Ethereum and is heading towards Bitcoin and reaching new horizons,” said Ben-Sasson.
