zk-STARK News

Zk-STARKs refer to zero-knowledge scalable transparent arguments of knowledge and are a type of cryptographic proof technology that allows blockchains to shift computations to a single off-chain STARK prover and then validate the computations’ integrity using an on-chain STARK verifier. The first STARK publication was released in 2018.

Zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge), which were used to build zk-proof systems prior to the development of zk-STARKs, introduced the vulnerability of those trusted parties jeopardizing the system’s privacy due to them needing to originally set up the zk-proof system. Zk-STARKs, invented by StarkWare, advance this technology by removing the requirement for a reliable setup. The fundamental workings of STARKs are hash functions, which have several benefits, including being quantum resistant. 

The primary application of knowledge-testing systems like zk-STARK concentrates on developing secure and private systems with complete decentralization of information and access restrictions. The zk-STARK may also be used to increase blockchain scalability by enabling cryptographic proofs to require less storage space. This is crucial for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) since the block size determines how many transactions can be handled per second.