In the rapidly evolving landscape of Web3 technology, Zero Knowledge provers have emerged as the crucial engine driving innovation in both Web3 privacy and scalability.
ZK-proofs (ZKPs) are powerful tools that are fundamental for building a more private, secure, and efficient decentralized web. Looking ahead in Web3, we anticipate even broader and more groundbreaking applications for ZK-provers.
Discover how BCW is at the forefront of this revolution, expanding the reach of ZK Prover use cases across Web3 with our cutting-edge ZK Prover-as-a-Service (ZK-PaaS) solution, leveraging cloud computing resources from Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
What are ZK-Proofs?
Zero-knowledge proofs are a cryptographic method enabling a ZK-prover to convince a verifier of the truth of a claim without disclosing any information beyond its validity.
In Web3, ZKPs boost Web3 privacy, security, and scalability for blockchain systems. ZKPs must be complete (true statements are convincing), sound (false statements are not), and zero-knowledge (verifier learns nothing beyond tthe ruth).
ZKPs have diverse Web3 applications, including but not limited to:
- Private transactions with cryptocurrencies
- Scalability solutions such as ZK-Rollups and ZK-Plasma for faster, cheaper Ethereum transactions
- Secure multi-party computation
- Private decentralized identity and voting
- Confidential DEX trading
- Regulatory compliance demonstration without data exposure
- Verifiable computations for oracles
Utilisation of ZKPs with cloud computing power for Web3 privacy and other use cases are likely to expand as both users and builders realise lower costs and greater simplicity in protecting privacy. However, despite their potential, ZKP adoption faces challenges, including implementation complexity, high computation needs, and interoperability issues.
ZK Provers-as-a-Service
ZK-PaaS streamlines ZK proof generation by outsourcing the computationally demanding process. Instead of managing proof generation internally, users can offload this task to a ZK-PaaS provider.
ZK-PaaS offers several benefits: it offloads heavy computation, making ZKP technology accessible to resource-limited devices and wider user bases. It provides scalability and efficiency through access to substantial computational resources, reducing proof generation time and potentially lowering costs by avoiding in-house infrastructure investment.
Decentralized ZK-PaaS offerings enhance resilience and censorship resistance. Furthermore, ZK proving markets can offer general-purpose, infrastructure-agnostic proof generation.
BCW explicitly offers ZK-PaaS, focusing on ZK-infrastructure design, building, and optimisation.
Insights from the Google Cloud ZK Summit
BCW presented a solution for benchmarking and optimizing ZK provers on GCP at the GCP ZK Summit in July 2024. BCW’s Associate Partner, Head of Engineering, Daniel Costa, introduced the BCW approach to developing, testing, and deploying ZK-PaaS.
“As we move towards a world of decentralized data, privacy has hindered progress on achieving wider adoption for real use cases. Zk-proof technology comes as a key complementary piece to move confidently forward, and BCW is excited to be together on this journey.” — Daniel Costa, Associate Partner, Head of Engineering BCW Group
Our approach involves several key stages:
First, we conduct a set of benchmark tests considering a wide range of input data, horizontal scaling, queuing analysis, and proof generation lifecycle optimisation. We focus on integrating battle-tested scalable services such as GKE for optimum tuning and performance along with systems profiling and analysis. This setup records granular infrastructure and application-level metrics.
Second, we leverage GKE for scalability and orchestration, scaling capabilities, cost optimization modes, and autoscaling management to efficiently handle worker nodes.
Third, we analyze inputs, outputs, and test data. This includes defining diverse data scenarios, static atomic proof data, or real-time blockchain data from RPC providers, end-to-end witness generation lifecycle, and collecting system and proof metrics. They recognize the impact of the different caveats of proof generation, from synchronous bottlenecks, zk-evm transaction type, circuit sizing, and end-to-end proof cycle.
Fourth, we apply a data-focused approach for optimization and cost modeling. This involves analyzing prover results, using linear regression to identify key performance metrics, developing a GCP cost simulation model, and employing Looker for data visualization and client insights.
Finally, we enable efficient configuration delivery and testing of various configurations by automating testing and deployment using Terraform for environment portability and CI/CD pipelines for automated test runs.
The BCW ZK PaaS in Use
BCW’s ZK-PaaS can be found in use across the Web3 space. For example, a Layer 2 blockchain gaming and NFT platform partnered with BCW to optimize the performance of their zkEVM on Google Cloud.
This platform needed to assess and improve the efficiency of ZKP for their ZK-rollup technology, balancing performance with cost and scalability. BCW developed a specialized ZK-Prover benchmarking framework, leveraging GCP components like GKE, Compute Engine, and RabbitMQ, to conduct thorough testing and analysis.
The custom framework gave the platform key insights into infrastructure performance and costs. The result was a 6% performance improvement for the L2, translating to significant cost savings and a more resilient setup for their ZK-Provers. Performance closely matched non-GCP environments, with an average of 1 to 1.5 seconds for block aggregation, preventing production scenario delays.
Additionally, the core team expressed how satisfied they were with the efficient configuration, noting that it was sustainable and would promote long-term growth for the network.
Conclusion
ZK-provers are poised to be a key to the evolution of the Web3 space, driving advancements in privacy, security, and scalability. As the demand for confidential transactions and efficient blockchain solutions grows, the role of ZK-provers will only become more critical.
BCW’s ZK Prover-as-a-Service solution, which leverages the robust GCP infrastructure, demonstrates the practical application of this technology. By simplifying the complex process of ZK-proof generation, BCW enables broader accessibility and faster adoption of ZKPs across diverse Web3 applications.
Through meticulous benchmarking, optimisation, and automation, BCW ensures that clients achieve significant performance improvements and cost savings, as demonstrated by the success with the L2 gaming platform. As ZK-PaaS offerings mature and become more widely adopted, users and builders can look forward to a future where privacy and efficiency are seamlessly integrated.
