ZeroPool — privacy for blockchain
Transcript lightly edited for readability. Timestamps link to the video.
[00:08] Introduction
Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. Today I would like to speak about privacy. I represent ZeroPool — an experimental project which is, as you can guess, about privacy for blockchain. So let's start.
[00:29] What does privacy mean today?
We know that blockchain is essentially about transparency — transparency is a core value of blockchain, and a lot of evangelists say transparency is the only way for blockchain. But we are still normal people, and normal startup founders. We would like to create something new — and not have to answer the question “why does that guy earn more than me, when I work harder?” thanks to somebody scanning our transactions.
Jokes aside: we need privacy for voting, for NFTs, for identity, and so on — even on blockchain.
[01:53] Privacy is not about crime — compliance first
Unfortunately, there are a lot of voices today crying that privacy in blockchain is needed only for crime. Of course, projects like that exist. But there are also high-quality projects that put compliance first — projects that give their users the ability to open exactly the information they want to share with regulators, other users, the community, and so on. It is only the user who decides what information to share.
[02:41] Account-based secrets and zk-SNARKs
We use account-based secrets, which lets us produce a single nullifier — instead of the number of nullifiers reflecting how many assets are in the transaction. That way we protect our users from data leaks better. zk-SNARKs connect us to a global anonymity set. So we believe that hard research and experimentation — combined with compliance and respect for all regulators' requirements — can produce a high-quality privacy solution for all users.
[03:36] Why NEAR needs privacy
First of all — new user adoption. People who are still far from blockchain are used to their financial actions being private: how much they spend and how much they earn is normally nobody's business. If NEAR provides privacy, it will be much easier for these people to join the blockchain community — and that is better for everyone.
Privacy also protects against corporate espionage. If you have soft commitments with partners and need to make the first test transactions, you may not want to reveal that partnership to the market yet. With privacy, you can protect your company and your project from competitors. Every kind of data protection needs privacy — and NEAR can provide it.
[05:20] Private transactions in practice
One of the true-privacy use cases is, of course, our solution for private transactions. It is transact-first: deposits and withdrawals exist only to support transactions, and the whole aim of the solution is to let users transact whatever amounts they want — we place no restrictions on that. The hidden transaction graph protects the information about how much was sent, from whom, and to whom. That way users get real privacy.
[06:29] Closing
Privacy and transparency, as we can see, are in balance today — and that balance is the only way for blockchain to develop, because it reflects the interests of all users and all people. We are glad to see you in the ZeroPool community — join us on Twitter, Telegram, Medium and beyond. Thank you for your attention.