Cryptocurrency expert, Brennen Schlueter, believes that zero-knowledge proofs might be used to tackle the “biggest problem” now affecting the internet today i.e. privacy.
Brennen Schlueter, the marketing director at privacy-focused infrastructure platform Aleo, told at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) that while ZK proofs have grown in popularity as a way to give blockchains greater scalability via ZK-rollups, they have the power to completely change the internet.
ZK proofs allow data to be sent between two parties where the originator just needs to disclose relevant details to the recipient. For instance, one might demonstrate their legal age to a security guard in order to enter a pub without disclosing their true age or identity.
According to Schlueter, the current internet was not designed with consumers’ privacy as a top priority.
When discussing how readily a user’s privacy might be violated online, Schlueter stated that “we are always going to have vulnerabilities there” when data needs to be sent or stored.
Schlueter claims that ZK proofs address this privacy issue for Web3, as well as the full internet.
We can actually begin to see how data can be safeguarded from the beginning by exposing the information that is required to know thanks to zero-knowledge proofs, the author continued and said, “I believe it alters the general direction we are pursuing with the internet.”
ZK-proofs might significantly simplify the life of developers and data custodians because they will no longer have to decide between providing a secure environment and improving user experience.
Schlueter clarified and added, “Those two things are at odds with how the internet is currently set up.”
According to Tiancheng Xie, chief technology officer of Polyhedra, an interoperability platform powered by ZK, artificial intelligence technologies may also profit from the ZK proofs’ censorship- and privacy-resistant features.
Schlueter said that ZK proofs are also advantageous for the financial, identification, and gaming industries.
According to his assertions, more financial institutions are turning to ZK solutions in an effort to enhance privacy where they see suitable.
