Blockstream, a bitcoin infrastructure company, has partnered with ZeroSync Association, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland. The purpose of this partnership is to broadcast zero-knowledge proof of bitcoin through Blockstream’s satellite.
Through this partnership, the bitcoin nodes can synchronize from anywhere on the planet. Even those without good internet coverage will be able to do it in fractions of a second, instead of hours or days.
In a recent tweet, ZeroSync said, “We are thrilled to announce today that Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, has agreed to partner with ZeroSync to deliver proofs of ZK from the bitcoin blockchain thanks to the Blockstream satellite”.
By the end of the year, ZeroSync intends to conduct a first release using the blockstream satellite hardware.
Blockstream’s satellite platform provides free global access to bitcoin by broadcasting the blockchain across the globe. The distribution will also take place in areas with unreliable internet coverage.
The ZeroSync association, created by three German computer scientists, is a newly formed non-profit organization. It intends to help evolve bitcoin using zero-knowledge proofs (zk-proofs). This cryptographic technique has seen its popularity explode on rival chain Ethereum.
The company’s website reads:
“ZeroSync is spearheading the development of proof systems for Bitcoin.”
“Through the application of a breakthrough cryptography method, we are pioneering the future of Bitcoin scalability, interoperability, and privacy.”
In cryptography, zero-disclosure evidence knowledge is a method by which one party can prove to another party that a given statement is true without revealing the statement.
Schematically, a zero-knowledge proof consists of asking the verifier to carry out a series of actions which can only be performed accurately if the verifier knows the underlying information.
How Zero-Knowledge Proofs Can Help Bitcoin Improve Privacy and Security
ZK proofs can help the bitcoin blockchain to become more private and secure, as this technology allows transactions to take place confidentially. Indeed, only the parties involved in the transaction have access to its details.
In addition, zero-knowledge proofs can improve thescalability of bitcoin by reducing the amount of data that needs to be processed and stored on the blockchain.
This result is obtained thanks to a process called “batching”, in which multiple transactions are combined into a single proof, which reduces the computational load on the network. On its website, ZeroSync states the following:
“Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) are a paradigm shift in blockchain scalability and privacy. While considerable engineering efforts are underway in the Ethereum community to apply this technology, no similar investment has ‘has been done for the Bitcoin network yet.”
In particular, ZeroSync has successfully developed a working prototype that allows users to authenticate the current state of the bitcoin blockchain. This includes ownership data and transaction history, with no need to download the 500 GB of data that the blockchain currently has.