about privacy and exploitation of one’s personal data by governments, corporations, social media platforms and banks, zero-knowledge proofs may offer some relief.
In some industry sectors like finance, ZK-proofs may profoundly alter how business is conducted. “We see this revolutionizing the audit industry,” Proven co-founder and CEO Rich Dewey tells Magazine in connection with ZK-enabled proof-of-solvency protocols, like the one his tech firm has developed. “The only question is the timeline.
There are other obstacles, too, that are beyond ZK-proofs purview or ability to control — which also may suggest their limitations. That is why high privacy guarantees are “at the core of most CBDC projects today,” Jonas Gross, chairman of the Digital Euro Association, tells Magazine. “Blockchain tech and ZK-proofs could be used as built-in safeguards in these systems to verify the origin, authenticity, and ownership of AI-generated files and manage some of the risks associated with AI-generated content,” says Malkhi, while Groth adds:
What if one day a customer doesn’t receive a daily receipt, or it’s wrong? That user might take to Twitter or some other social media venue and complain or ask questions. Have others experienced something similar? A thread might grow. “We are starting to work on increasing the frequency of publishing the Proof of Solvency to 1x day by the end of 2023.”“ZK-proofs can become very relevant in the context of digital identities, whether they are issued by the government or private entities,” adds Nyffenegger. They could prove that you are not included on some government sanctions list without revealing who you are, for instance.
It should be added that while blockchains provide some of ZK-proof’s first exciting use cases, the technology does not require blockchain technology to work — but they are surely helpful. However, other barriers remain that might require laws and regulations to overcome. Will ZK claims be accepted in court, for instance?