Earlier, ZEROBASE announced the completion of a $5 million financing round to build a real-time zero-knowledge proof (ZK) network that provides privacy protection and decentralized computing infrastructure. This financing was led by Binance Labs, FactionVC, and DAO5.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and what ZEROBASE does?
Hello everyone, I am Mirror Tang, the CEO of ZEROBASE and a professor of cryptography at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I mainly study cryptographic engineering implementations and security issues in blockchain. Recently, I have been particularly interested in the interaction between social and technical aspects in collective decision-making. Additionally, I strive to achieve a balance and harmony between performance, security, and technological freedom within the ZEROBASE ecosystem. Security and data-driven decision-making have numerous applications in distributed ecosystems; they can help prevent data validation errors, service interruptions or rollbacks, and protect funds, enhancing the sustainability of the overall economic model.
The ZEROBASE project was established in March 2024, evolving from the Salus Security cryptographic security team, which undertook cryptographic work for PSE (Ethereum Foundation Cryptography Team). Considering the need to provide services to more projects requiring proof acceleration, we expanded it into an independent project, which is today's ZEROBASE—a real-time ZK proof acceleration network designed for speed, decentralization, and compliance. We provide free circuit development services and charge for proof generation services. We also offer circuit templates and commercial licenses for zkLogin, zkDarkPool, and zkVote systems, allowing you to transform your project into a ZK project with a deployment fee of just $1,000, addressing privacy and security issues in conventional scenarios. We write circuits with Circom and use Gnark for proof generation acceleration, achieving agile development and rapid iteration. The proof generation efficiency accelerated by ZEROBASE's proof network is about 120 milliseconds per million Circom proof constraints (per RTX 4090). We also undertake general commercial circuit development and provide a decryptable circuit framework to achieve privacy compliance.
What is the vision of ZEROBASE? What core issues does it want to solve?
ZEROBASE's vision is to become a leader in the fields of privacy computing and decentralized finance, solving the credibility privacy issues of existing blockchains.
Blockchain, as a distributed ledger, is completely transparent to all users, but it also exposes some important information to the public eye. For example, the JSON Web Token used for social media wallet logins can lead to identity information leakage and replay login attacks once shared with project parties. The trading order information of DEX and AMM is often used for market manipulation. If a hedge fund's trading strategy is exposed, it can severely impact the fund's profitability. This data should be strictly protected and not become a 'public secret' on the transparent ledger. ZEROBASE aims to use privacy protection technology to allow users to use blockchain with peace of mind, without worrying about privacy leakage, while still maintaining transparency and the core advantages of decentralization.
A significant example is that ZEROBASE Staking is our core application scenario, where its importance lies in generating direct returns for users. For example, the popular CeDefi shares institutional-level arbitrage profits directly with retail investors, but the direct problem is that users cannot check the status of funds in their accounts, which is a high-risk black box. Using CEFFU, your money will not be transferred away, but liquidation can occur. Forcing checks may prevent trading teams from using better strategies. Our verification method is also very simple for users; the strategies and operations of the trading team are completely encrypted, but users can generate zero-knowledge proofs by invoking the exchange account API to ensure that the arbitrage strategy does not use high leverage, has not allocated excessive funds in the same currency, and has complete hedging. The proof is generated in ZEROBASE's TEE proof network, ensuring no information leakage. This balance of information is precisely what we strive for: Don't trust, verify it.
What is the technical architecture of the ZEROBASE proof network, and how is it different from competitors?
Our competitors currently fall into two categories: one adopts a consensus model, which has no significant difference from L1, and the proof speed of this structure is based on block generation and aggregation time, making it unsuitable for high-speed proof generation demands. The other adopts a centralized architecture where all nodes must send heartbeat packets to Hubs to maintain online status, with Hubs responsible for recording all node information. As the number of nodes increases, the load on the Hub also increases, becoming a bottleneck for system performance. Once a Hub goes offline, the entire system will stop running.
To address this issue, ZEROBASE introduces a distributed architecture, dividing nodes into multiple subsets, each managed by an independent Hub. By increasing the number of Hubs, we can effectively share the load, ensuring that the system runs smoothly even as the number of nodes increases. This architecture avoids single points of failure, enhancing the system's fault tolerance and scalability. Through a consistent hashing algorithm, nodes and Hubs are mapped to a virtual circular hash space. Nodes find the nearest Hub using their hash values, which manages them. Thus, even if Hubs are added or removed, only a small portion of nodes need to be reassigned, while others remain unchanged, reducing the impact of load redistribution.
Scalability and fault tolerance: To address data skew issues (where some Hubs are overloaded while others are idle), ZEROBASE introduces a virtual node mechanism. Each Hub is mapped to multiple virtual nodes, further balancing the load. The addition of virtual nodes allows for a more even distribution of nodes, effectively avoiding a regression to centralized architecture. As the number of nodes increases, more Hubs can be added to share the load, preventing any single Hub from becoming overloaded. If a Hub fails, only its assigned nodes need to be reassigned to other Hubs, while the rest of the system continues to operate normally.
How does ZEROBASE balance the relationship between privacy protection and compliance?
ZEROBASE achieves a clever combination of privacy protection and compliance through verifiable partial decryption commitment technology. The core mechanism of this technology is to keep users' data fully encrypted under normal circumstances, only allowing authorized trusted institutions to perform partial decryption of the data when specific conditions are met. This design not only protects user privacy but also provides solutions for compliance requirements. Specifically, there are several key points:
Data submission encryption: Users' sensitive information will be generated as a commitment, which is encrypted and only the user knows its content. For example, in lending scenarios, the credit data submitted by users will be encrypted into a commitment form. Users need to generate a zero-knowledge proof to prove that the information they submitted is legitimate, such as that their credit score meets certain requirements, but the specific score and original data will not be exposed.
Authorized decryption mechanism: If a user encounters a special situation (such as a loan default), the system will call the circuit's 'partial decryption' function. Through a 'decryption key' (trapdoor) hidden in the commitment, trusted institutions can decrypt a portion of the necessary information, such as the default amount or related responsibilities, without revealing the user's complete data. This circuit also includes an auditing function, and all decryption actions will be recorded on-chain to prevent abuse. Trusted institutions must also provide legitimate proof when using the decryption function, ensuring that each operation is transparent and compliant.
In summary, we are like creating a 'privacy vault' where only at critical moments, using the right 'key', can a portion of important things be accessed. This mechanism allows ZEROBASE to meet both privacy protection and legal compliance requirements in complex scenarios such as financial lending, tax audits, and asset liquidation, achieving a balance of security and transparency.
What main application scenarios or industries does ZEROBASE support?
The technical application scope of ZEROBASE is very broad, covering finance, identity verification, decentralized trading, privacy credit scoring, cross-border healthcare, and other fields. In summary, it is zk+everything, and I can talk about our existing scenarios.
In the financial sector, such as hedge funds, our technology can verify whether investment strategies comply with risk limits while completely concealing the details of the strategies. Investors can be assured of the risks, and funds can protect their core secrets. In DeFi, our zkDarkPool enhances user privacy for large transactions, avoiding market manipulation and bot sniping, especially strengthening the protection of small tokens.
For instance, in identity verification, our zkLogin technology is interesting. Users can verify their blockchain accounts using their Google or Facebook login information without worrying about privacy leakage. This technology already supports StarkNet and collaborates with TOMO Wallet to provide a simpler and safer user experience.
Cross-chain bridge scenarios also benefit from our technical support, such as the Tiga processor, which specifically verifies block information for cross-chain bridges, enhancing security and efficiency.
We also pay attention to vulnerable groups. For example, the United States is a credit society; once your personal credit goes bankrupt, or if you have no credit score, you will find it difficult to navigate life in the U.S., falling into a situation of having no credit—unable to rent a house—no address—unable to work and reliant on daily welfare. We have helped low-income groups in Arizona develop a privacy credit scoring system that allows them to use zero-knowledge proofs to verify work records, generating a credible score that enables them to find jobs even without a FICO score. In cross-border medical scenarios, we cooperate with Northern Arizona University to enable overseas patients to verify their asset information in their home country through privacy asset proof technology, successfully obtaining medical credit.
The core of our work is: whether in finance, trading, or assisting ordinary people, we use ZK to solve privacy and credibility issues.
What specific benefits can users and developers gain in the ZEROBASE ecosystem?
One of the biggest benefits for users in the ZEROBASE ecosystem is obtaining long-term returns by participating in ZEROBASE Staking. Users can stake ZB tokens to provide security support for the network while enjoying high returns brought by the ZK+Cefi combination. Additionally, through Staking, users can also participate in governance voting, directly engaging in important decisions for ZEROBASE. For developers, we have allocated 10% of the total ZB supply to support network expansion, partnerships, and application implementation. We also have a proof mining program that rewards applications using ZEROBASE based on early network usage.
Has ZEROBASE already received financing support or established partnerships with industry organizations?
Yes, our investors include institutions such as Binance Labs, Lightspeed Faction, DAO5, Sequoia, IDG, and many others. I also want to thank the National Science Foundation, Ethereum Foundation, Starknet, and NVIDIA Startup Accelerator Program, as well as the Microsoft & OpenAI Founders Program for their funding. Without their support, it would be difficult for ZEROBASE to develop to where it is today. Most of our investors and sponsors are our customers and partners, and we also receive extensive support from Salus Security's clients.
How does the project team respond to potential regulatory pressures?
The ZEROBASE team is well aware that the use of privacy protection technology can easily trigger regulatory concerns, so we have made compliance an important part of the system design from the very beginning. Recently, the case of Tornado Cash being partially sanctioned due to its immutable infrastructure provided us with important insights: regulation does not entirely reject privacy technology but requires transparency and traceability when necessary.
We have proactively collaborated with regulatory agencies to explore the application of privacy technology within compliance frameworks. Our verifiable partial decryption commitment technology was born out of this collaboration, and some of ZEROBASE's core technologies are developed around decryptable circuits. The core concept of this circuit is that users' data is encrypted by default, and only when specific conditions (such as user authorization or legal requirements) are met can trusted parties decrypt partial information using special keys. This design avoids the misuse of completely untraceable privacy systems while ensuring a baseline of privacy protection.
ZEROBASE is clearly positioned as a provider of privacy computing infrastructure. Our technology is neutral, aiming to provide users with security and privacy protection, rather than serving illegal purposes. By aligning with compliance frameworks, we avoid becoming the center of regulatory conflicts.
What role do you think ZEROBASE will play in the future blockchain ecosystem?
A core challenge of blockchain technology is how to address privacy protection while ensuring decentralization. ZEROBASE enhances the efficiency of privacy protection and provides solutions for compliance through an innovative technical architecture, including a distributed network, a virtual node mechanism, and verifiable partial decryption commitment technology. Whether for financial transactions, identity verification, or complex cross-chain bridge validation, our technology can meet regulatory and business requirements while ensuring data privacy. We will continue to optimize developer tools and support to help them quickly build privacy-protecting applications based on ZK technology. Through our network, Circom and Gnark code can achieve proof generation in milliseconds, bringing unprecedented efficiency to developers.
As the CEO of ZEROBASE, I believe we will play a core role as a provider of privacy computing infrastructure and a standard setter for decentralized finance in the future blockchain ecosystem. Our mission is to empower various application scenarios through zero-knowledge proof (ZK) technology, allowing blockchain to protect privacy while maintaining transparency and trust.
