Today, the project I will analyze is @SuccinctLabs. You must have some impression of this project, as it is now listed on Binance Alpha. I wonder how much Airdrop everyone has received this time. It has been quite a hot topic before, but the project is indeed quite good and worth a look. Let's take a look together:
Have you all noticed that ZK technology has been widely discussed in the past two years? It's said to solve the security, speed, and privacy issues of blockchain, but when it comes to finding a few ZK applications that ordinary people can actually use, there don't seem to be many.
The problem lies in the fact that ZK is too "difficult to get started with", it's like giving an ordinary person a professional tool without knowing how to use it.
However, recently I've been looking at the project @SuccinctLabs, and I feel that it might really be able to turn ZK from specialized equipment in the hands of experts into a common tool that everyone can use.
Let's first see where ZK is difficult.
The difficulty of ZK lies in its high threshold. In the past, if you wanted to create an application with ZK functionality, you had to be a cryptography expert. Ordinary people couldn't even understand the complex formulas and circuit designs, let alone get started on building it.
Moreover, the blockchain itself is slow; for example, Ethereum can only process a dozen or so transactions per second. Initially, we hoped to speed it up with ZK, but generating that "proof" requires a lot of computation, which generally small teams cannot bear in terms of cost and technical pressure.
Companies want to use ZK to protect user privacy, for example, verifying age without revealing the specific birthday. Just setting up such a system would require spending a lot of money to hire experts, which ordinary companies simply cannot afford.
In fact, @SuccinctLabs is addressing these troubles little by little:
At its core is the SP1 zkVM, which can be described as a "ZK translator." Previously, writing ZK-related code was like using assembly language, requiring a deep understanding of the underlying logic; now with this, ordinary developers can use the programming languages they are accustomed to without needing to understand complex mathematics, essentially shifting from assembly directly to Python, significantly lowering the barrier to entry.
The problem of blockchain slowness has its solutions. Now, every transaction on Ethereum has to be recalculated by the entire network, which is particularly time-consuming.
Succinct's "real-time proof" allows everyone to batch process transactions off-chain, generating a ZK proof that only needs to be verified on-chain. This way, theoretically, the number of transactions that can be processed per second increases from dozens to over ten thousand!
The key point is that even Raspberry Pi can serve as a validation node, and security and decentralization are not affected. With this speed, it is now possible to complete the proof of 93% of Ethereum blocks within 12 seconds, which is quite rare in the industry.
It's much easier for businesses to use ZK now, as the interfaces provided are very simple, eliminating the need to set up a dedicated cryptography team. For example, the age verification in Google Wallet can prove that you are over 18 without disclosing your specific birthday, utilizing its technical framework behind the scenes.
The industry is increasingly recognizing the value of ZK, believing that it can protect privacy while also meeting compliance requirements. This is a favorable industry signal for Succinct, which focuses on infrastructure.
Now let's look at the practical use case. There are already 35 crypto protocols that have used its Prover Network, and more than 10 of them have officially gone live. Among the collaborative projects, well-known names in the industry such as Polygon, Celestia, and Taiko are included. The on-chain assets protected through its network exceed 4 billion dollars, which is quite significant in the ZK infrastructure.
Some may wonder, there are quite a few projects doing ZK now, what makes it different? The key is that it is not just a specific ZK application, but more like an engine for the entire ZK field.
Others may be optimizing using ZK on a certain chain, and it is more like the AWS of the ZK field. No matter which chain or application you are using, even if it is an AI model or an enterprise system, as long as you need to generate ZK proofs, you can use its computing power just like calling a cloud service.
Its token $PROVE is not just a token for a single application, but the settlement currency for the entire network. All the demand for generating proofs on this network will ultimately be settled using $PROVE, and these fees will be distributed to the nodes that stake $PROVE.
This creates a cycle: the more people use it, the more people may be willing to stake, the stronger the network's computing power becomes, costs may potentially decrease, which can attract more users, and the returns can be linked to the value of the tokens.
The team and financing aspects are also quite stable, with Paradigm leading two rounds in succession, raising a total of over 55 million USD. Institutions such as Robot Ventures and Bankless also participated in the investment, and influential figures in the industry, including the co-founder of Polygon, also invested.
The founder Uma is from MIT, studied mathematics and computer science, and previously worked in AI at Google Brain; the other founder John is from Stanford and has also received the Thiel Fellowship for entrepreneurship, both come from a technical background and appear to be practical and dedicated.
Of course, this project also has some potential issues that need to be noted:
First, there is the pressure of technological iteration. ZK technology itself is still rapidly developing. Although the current SP1 performs well, new technological solutions continue to emerge in the industry. If it cannot keep up with the pace of technological upgrades, it may be replaced by better solutions.
Then there is the competition aspect. Although there is currently a certain leading advantage, other projects working on ZK infrastructure are also making efforts. Whether the "preferred choice" position can be maintained depends on the speed of ecosystem expansion.
Furthermore, the ecological dependency is relatively high, and the value of such networks largely depends on the number of applications and nodes connected. If the subsequent growth does not meet expectations, the operational efficiency of the $PROVE economic model may be affected.
Finally, there is the uncertainty on the regulatory front. Although the industry generally recognizes ZK technology, there may be many compliance details that need to be gradually refined when it comes to the specific landing policies of different countries, especially in scenarios involving privacy verification.
Overall, for ZK technology to truly become widespread, what is needed is the infrastructure that can lower the barriers to use and provide general computing power. What @SuccinctLabs is doing now is somewhat like paving a broad road for the ZK ecosystem; once the road is smooth, more people will naturally be willing to use it.
Of course, any new technology has its uncertainties. Its advantages are quite obvious, but challenges such as technological updates, competition among peers, and whether the ecosystem can be developed are all very real.
Those interested can check out its X account @SuccinctLabs, or join the Discord, read the blog for more information. After all, in the field of ZK, projects that can excel in both technical strength and implementation progress are indeed worth paying more attention to! Looking forward to better performance!
#SuccinctLabs ##ZK Technology #区块链基础设施 ##PROVE token