Processing Fit for 2020, and Not the 1980s
Out With The Old, and In With The New: Building A New Computational Engine for our Digital World - zk-SNARKs, and R1CS
We live in a 1980s viewpoint of data processing, and have not really moved forward since then. This processing model often requires access to the original data, even when we just need proof of things. So let’s look to a future, where we preserve the privacy of users, and where we just ask them to prove that they still know things, or to prove that something is true or not, but not reveal the data which makes the attestation.
You never stop learning, so let’s dive into a world of privacy. At the core of this world is the concepts invovled with a method called zk-SNARKs, and which is a fast and efficient zero-knowledge proofs. Within it, Bob can determine that Alice has enough funds in her account to pay him, without actually revealing any of Alice’s transactions, or where Bob can prove to Alice that he still knows his password, without actually revealing it to her.
A core concept within zk-SNARKs is the usage of R1CS (Rank 1 Constraint System), and which supports an easily verifiable format for zero-knowledge proofs. In this case, we will use the practical example used by Vitalik Buterin to explain zk-SNARKs [here].
