Zero KnowledgeBlockChain

General Use Cases of Zero Knowledge

By Joel Lozano
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Published on
zero-knowledge

💡Key Ideas:

  1. I tend to divide Zero Knowledge space into 3 big buckets

    • Privacy: transactions, identities and everything in between
    • Scalability: rollups, offchain computation and everything in between
    • Interoperability: bridges, coprocessors, and web2 - web3 links
  2. Anonymous Payments: ZCash blockchain (2016), Tornado Cash mixer (2019).

  3. Decentralized Identities: Semaphore, zkPassport, PrivadoID, zkMe ,etc.

  4. Authentication: prevent data leaks! No storing of data. Also zkKYC

  5. Verifiable computation: rollups!!! [2] All zk rollups like Starknet, Aztec, Taiko, Scroll, Polygon zkEVM, etc.

  6. Voting: MACI [3], Shutter, Snapshot, etc.

🔗 Links:

[1] hWhat are Zero Knowledge Proofs by ethereum.org.

[2] What are ZK Rollups? by Chainlink

[3] What is MACI?

Overview of the Space

Because the space is always changing it's impossible to have a complete picture in real time of what's just even happening in the Ethereum-verse. Here are a few attempts that provide a high level overview of the space of space-segments:

ZK-Rollups Landscape Overview Report [July 2023]

The State of Zero-Knowledge Applications in Ethereum Part 1: Introduction by andyguzman.eth (Jan 2023) contains a brief explanation about what exactly are zero-knowledge apps, how does ZK innovation flows and a proposed way to categorize the different kinds of applications.

The State of Zero-Knowledge Applications in Ethereum Part 2: Privacy and Identity by andyguzman.eth (Apr 2023) provides an introduction to privacy and identity space and a list of many protocols and projects that addressed this issue (circa 2023).

The Future of Digital Identity by dcbuilder.eth (Dec 2023) presents a holistic overview of what the space of digital identity

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