StarkWare’s new Stark Two prover enables users to create zero-knowledge proofs directly on phones, laptops, and browsers for better privacy.
StarkWare, a blockchain company, has introduced the STARK Two (S-two) zero-knowledge (ZK) prover, facilitating improved privacy and verification on standard devices such as laptops, phones, and browsers.
According to the company, the new ZK prover enables users to generate intricate cryptographic proofs from the client side.
This implies that users can generate ZK-proofs directly on their devices rather than relying on a server or cloud infrastructure.
This opens the door to more private and quicker applications across the internet.
Eli Ben-Sasson, the co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, stated that S-two will introduce STARK proving to standard devices and create opportunities for new real-world proving use cases.
He also suggested that the tool could facilitate the development of the next generation of ZK applications.
The ZK prover is accessible in public alpha and will be implemented on Starknet, the company’s Ethereum layer-2 scalability solution, later this year.
According To StarkWare, New ZK Prover Is 39 Times Quicker Than Previous Solutions
According to StarkWare, the S-two ZK prover was 39 times faster than previous solutions in benchmark evaluations.
Performance improvement facilitates seamless experiences in applications that enhance privacy.
The upgrade also enables use cases in private transactions, ZK-based identity, and verifiable artificial intelligence.
According to StarkWare, S-two is currently operational on CPUs and GPUs and will shortly be available on browsers.
“We have referred to the prover as our magic wand for years, a tool that simplifies intricate computations into straightforward proofs,” Ben-Sasson stated.
“Currently, the wand functions as a portable lightsaber that anyone from their device can instantly employ.”
StarkWare asserts that developers can construct with S-two and that its alpha release is compatible with hardware targets.
Additionally, according to the company, AntChain OpenLabs, Nexus, Kakarot, and ZAN are among the ZK ecosystem participants that have already implemented the technology.
Nexus is standardizing RISC-V traces to align with S-two’s architecture, while Kakarot employs S-two inside ETHProofs to generate Ethereum block proofs more efficiently.
In the interim, AntChain OpenLabs and ZAN incorporate GPU acceleration to enhance the prover’s efficacy.
Applications Of S-Two Zero-Knowledge Prover
Oren Katz, the chief operating officer of StarkWare, stated to Cointelegraph that S-two represents a change in how ZK-proofs are employed in daily life.
Privacy-preserving messaging, payments, and digital identity features will be enabled by directly generating device validity proofs.
Katz supplemented, “You can demonstrate the validity of a payment without disclosing your balance or verify your identity without disclosing personal information.”
Katz stated that salary payments could be conducted on the blockchain transparently without disseminating sensitive information.
He referred to the development as a “significant stride toward mainstreaming zero-knowledge technology.”
Katz also stated that local proof generation enables use cases in other industries in addition to privacy.
The executive informed Cointelegraph that it could allow gamers to play offline and generate cryptographic proof of their accomplishments.
Katz further stated, “Instead of executing all logic on the chain to prove integrity, an operator can execute it on their servers and generate proof that it was executed correctly.”
New ZK Prover Is Ethereum’s Privacy Initiative
StarWare’s upgraded ZK prover has been released in response to Ethereum’s advocacy for enhanced privacy.
A roadmap was published by Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, on April 11—the roadmap focused on improving privacy for wallets, decentralized financing (DeFi) applications, and infrastructure.
Buterin promoted the integration of privacy-enhancing norms and features throughout the Ethereum ecosystem, such as including privacy tools in ETH wallets.
