Introduction

ZoKrates is a toolbox for zkSNARKs on Ethereum. It helps you use verifiable computation in your DApp, from the specification of your program in a high level language to generating proofs of computation to verifying those proofs in Solidity.

Background on zkSNARKs

Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are a family of probabilistic protocols, first described by Goldwasser, Micali and Rackoff in 1985.

One particular family of ZKPs is described as zero-knowledge Succinct Non-interactive ARguments of Knowledge, a.k.a. zkSNARKs. zkSNARKs are the most widely used zero-knowledge protocols, with the anonymous cryptocurrency Zcash and the smart-contract platform Ethereum among the notable early adopters.

For further details we refer the reader to some introductory material provided by the community: [1], [2], [3].

Motivation

Ethereum runs computations on all nodes of the network, resulting in high costs, limits in complexity, and low privacy. zkSNARKs have been enabling to only verify computations on-chain for a fraction of the cost of running them, but are hard to grasp and work with.

ZoKrates bridges this gap. It helps you create off-chain programs and link them to the Ethereum blockchain, expanding the possibilities for your DApp.

License

ZoKrates is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.