What Is zkPass? A Solution for Web Privacy
Online data privacy is getting more critical with identity theft and deep fake risks. Here’s a case: a user completed verification on a platform, providing personal information. Later, the platform gets hacked and all that data gets in the hacker’s hands. To avoid this, zkPass offers privacy-preserving data verification based on blockchain.
What Is zkPass?
zkPass is an open-source private data verification protocol. To provide privacy, zkPass uses Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) among other technologies. The protocol brings Web2 data on-chain to allow users to verify their identities without revealing personal information. Enabling authentication without passwords, it eliminates the chance of other parties gaining access to the account.
zkPass can verify types of data: legal identity, financial reports, medical information, social communication, etc.
Here’s a brief breakdown of the cryptographic techniques zkPass uses:
- Three-Party Transport Layer Security - encrypts data both for the user and the server and ensures effective communication between devices
- Multi-Party Secure Computation - enables multiple parties to share data and carry out computing tasks without gaining knowledge about other parties
- ZK Knowledge Generation - uses technologies like zk-SNARKs to generate cryptographic proofs
zkPass Investors and Partners
zkPass was founded in 2022 in Sydney Australia. In August 2023, the project raised $2.5M in a Seed Round from Binance Labs, Sequoia China, OKX Ventures and other investors. In June 2023, zkPass won the “Build the Block'' reality show competition by Binance Labs. The show was held in the metaverse and included 7 episodes. As the announcement by Binance states, zkPass secured investment from Binance Labs as the winner.
zkPass partners with a number of blockchain protocols, including the Ethereum scaling solution Linea, the interoperability protocol LayerZero, the swapping protocol Poolz Finance, etc. Using the zkPass kit, developers can build privacy-preserving identity verification solutions. zkPass is in the active development stage now and is available for public testing.
ZK Technologies and the Future of Data Verification
Different studies, and of course legal cases show that people are becoming more concerned about online privacy and demand corresponding solutions. Recently, the tech giant Google agreed to delete billions of records collected in the browning “Incognito” mode to settle a lawsuit. Earlier, in 2023, Facebook's parent company Meta agreed to pay $725M to settle a lawsuit over user data privacy. Taking into account all the facts, web privacy is a top priority, which can be addressed due to evolving tech solutions. Here, ZK Proof technologies are one of the most promising developments. This cybersecurity innovation holds a huge potential for a wide use of applications by offering privacy, security, and efficiency.
Anahit Avetisyan
Author
Web3 writer and crypto HODLer with a keen interest in market trends and recent technologies.
