On June 21, Light Protocol revealed that it partnered with Helius Labs to launch zero-knowledge (ZK) compression on Solana.
Solana has introduced a feature, ZK Compression, to lower the costs associated with on-chain account storage substantially. This development addresses a critical hurdle that has hindered wider adoption by businesses and consumer applications, making blockchain technology more accessible and affordable for various industries.
In a significant breakthrough for blockchain technology, Head of Strategy at Solana, Austin Federa, weighed in on a new feature called ZK Compression. This innovative development promises to drastically reduce the cost of on-chain account storage. Hence, it addresses one of the key challenges faced by institutions and mass-consumer applications.
What is Solana’s ZK Compression?
ZK Compression is designed to enable scalable application development. It allows developers and users to compress their on-chain state, drastically reducing state costs while maintaining Solana’s security, performance, and composability.
The tool uses ZK proofs to lower the costs of creating tokens and accounts on Solana. These proofs ensure data integrity and enable retrieval through RPC providers that support ZK compression. Developers can minimize on-chain storage costs by storing only state roots on-chain, with other data on the more affordable Solana ledger space.
Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz highlighted the significant cost reduction and scalability improvements brought by ZK compression.
Technical Advantages and Collaboration
Beyond just cost savings, ZK Compression maintains high security and performance standards on the Solana blockchain. Data compressed by ZK Compression is stored securely. Execution and availability remain on Solana’s L1, maintaining platform integrity and functionality.
This feature reduces costs while preserving the security, performance, and composability of Solana’s Layer 1 blockchain. It offers developers the flexibility to choose between standard and compressed on-chain states.
ZK Compression results from a collaborative effort within the Solana ecosystem, involving contributions from Light Protocol and Helius Labs. This partnership underscores the community’s commitment to advancing blockchain technology through innovative solutions.
The launch of ZK Compression marks a significant step forward for Solana, providing both cost efficiencies and technical enhancements that could attract a wider array of developers and businesses to the blockchain space.