ZKP in a browser? You got it!
The zCloak Network team is very excited to announce we have just achieved the first STARK proof generation in a browser extension.
What is in the demo? In the demo, we have a simple algorithm to judge if a person is over 20 years old. A result of “true” is obtained for Alice who is 26 and a STARK proof is generated to prove the correctness(integrity) of her computation. If Alice sends the result and the proof to a 3rd party, she will be able to prove that she is over 20 years old without disclosing her exact age.
How was it achieved? We have managed to make the Rust ZKP virtual machine into a wasm library and made it accessible to a js/ts front-end such as a web-page or a browser extension. Now users can perform a wide range of computation/analysis on their private data and generate a Zero-Knowledge Proof to attest their computational integrity. Note that, with the ZKP virtual machine, you don’t have to hand-write a circuit/air for each of your algorithms anymore.
Why is it important? This experiment implies a shift of computation paradigm—from cloud computing to cloaked computing. We are getting closer to the goal of Web 3.0—no need to send your private data to centralized servers anymore. Now you can use your data in your local space and prove your computation is correct with zero-knowledge proof. This is significant for data privacy protection. After all, if you don’t have to share your data with any 3rd parties, there is nothing they can do to misuse/leak your data.
You can check this article for a more detailed technical overview of the zCloak Network project.
About zCloak Network
zCloak Network is a privacy-focused computing platform based on Polkadot. It uses a novel zk-STARK virtual machine for general purpose computations. It enables a new computation paradigm called the Cloaking Space, which provides a private and scalable computation environment for Web 3.0. With zCloak Network, people can use their real-world data for e.g. DeFi, NFT applications without disclosing their privacy. zCloak Network will adopt a business model of Zero-Knowledge Proof as a Service for major public blockchains.
