Zero knowledge proofs have been hailed as a major advancement for blockchain technology but the efficacy of these protocols will require streamlined data availability solutions to unlock their full potential.
Anurag Arjun, co-founder of Polygon and blockchain data availability protocol Avail, highlighted the importance of data availability for ZK rollups in an interview with Cointelegraph.
ZK rollups are a layer 2 blockchain scaling solution for blockchain networks allowing transactions to be batched and submitted to a layer 1 blockchain with the provision of a cryptographic proof. ZK proofs aim to provide faster and more efficient transaction processing while maintaining the security of a blockchain system.
As Ethereum continues on its roadmap following its shift to proof-of-stake after the Merge, data availability is set to become an important factor in an increasing dependence on rollup scaling protocols for transaction batching and verification.
Arjun, who’s spearheading Avail’s growth following the platform’s spin off from Polygon Labs, said that base layer blockchain protocols of the future will have to optimize data availability for proofs, verifications and settlements rather than execution.
The transition sees blockchain technology moving from a ‘monolithic sort of blockchain architecture’ to more modular setups like that of Avail, which provides infrastructure for ZK rollups and other off-chain scaling solutions.
Related: Polygon’s ‘holy grail’ Ethereum-scaling zkEVM beta hits mainnet
Arjun said that ZK proofs are under-appreciated given that they have removed the need for crypto economic assumptions in blockchain systems:
The importance of data availability for ZK proofs is tied to the nature of the
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