Overview

This section will cover the basics of the zkp.services protocol at a higher level. Some of the things covered, such as how the Zero Knowledge Proofs are integrated or how the custom Multi-Factor authentication works, for example, will be elaborated upon in significantly more detail in the corresponding sections of our documentation.

The Purpose of the Protocol

The zkp.services protocol is engineered to herald a future where safety, transparency, and decentralization are embedded into all facets of data management. In an era where data drives almost every aspect of our lives, the current methods of data management — often leading to fragmentation and compromise — demand an innovative overhaul. zkp.services is the answer to these challenges, offering a comprehensive and secure framework for data handling, exchange, and verification, while ensuring utmost privacy and security.

Central Hub for Data-Related Activities

Wide Applicability: zkp.services serves as a central hub for various data-related activities, catering to both individual users and smart services as well as a tool for other protocols.
Data Management Across Platforms: The protocol supports the retrieval, transformation, and exchange of data across Web2 and Web3 platforms, ensuring versatility and adaptability in different technological environments.

Security and Privacy Measures

Encryption and Redundancy: Data is encrypted at rest, whether stored on decentralized mediums or Web2 databases. In transit, it's protected through TLS and ephemeral AES encryption, supplemented by obfuscation and hashing during smart contract operations. Obfuscation in particular means that nobody but the intended recipients are able to decipher what data is being communicated and when and for what purpose while having the guarantee by the smart contract that the data is legitimate or updated legally as per request.
Backup Capabilities: The protocol allows for redundant storage and backups across multiple Web2 databases and EVM-compatible chains, facilitated by Chainlink CCIP or manual methods.

Integration of Advanced Technologies

Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs): A pivotal feature of the protocol - ZKPs enable users to selectively reveal specific data properties while verifying their authenticity, thus balancing privacy with transparency.
Custom Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): This feature adds an extra layer of security, allowing users to enhance their data protection as needed.

Universal Applicability and Future-Proofing

EVM Compatibility: The protocol's design is universally applicable, compatible with any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-based blockchain. This ensures wide-ranging utility and integration capabilities.
Adherence to API Guidelines: zkp.services supports a broad spectrum of Web2 and Web3 data sources that adhere to our API guide, promoting interoperability and ease of integration.
Cross-Chain and Cross-Database Functionality: The protocol extends to cross-chain and cross-database exchanges and backups, enhancing its robustness and practical utility.

zkp.services redefines data management and exchange for the digital age. Its combination of security, privacy, and universal applicability positions it as an indispensable tool in today’s data-centric world, offering extensive utility and security guarantees that are as vital as data itself.

How Does It Work in a Nutshell?

The zkp.services protocol utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to enhance user control over data while ensuring compliance and auditing standards are met. In essence, it allows users to upload their encrypted data to a Web2/Web3 data provider of their choice, such as IPFS or AWS. This data can then be used according to their needs, whether it's sharing with authorized parties at specific times or updating the stored data as required.

A significant aspect of this protocol is its ability to allow data recipients to verify the authenticity of received data or confirm the execution of requested updates (like reducing a balance for metro access) without compromising the user's privacy. This approach effectively balances compliance needs with privacy preservation.

The protocol functions by storing data either on-chain or off-chain, but revealing it only through selective snapshots. To validate the legitimacy of such data or updates, cryptographic techniques like hash functions and zero-knowledge proofs are employed. Users upload 'proofs' or 'signatures' related to specific data fields or updates to a smart contract. This enables them to provide evidence of lawful actions by referencing these proofs in the smart contract when sharing data or claiming updates. It is crucial to note that the cryptographic techniques employed also allow users to maintain their privacy, such that what they are doing remains secret albeit verified and/or selectively revealed to parties of their choosing.

The use of ZKPs and hashing algorithms in zkp.services provides a cryptographic guarantee of the legality and validity of the data or updates, verified through a simple check by the recipient. Additionally, users can digitally sign their uploaded data with RSA keys associated with zkp.services or their own private keys.

The scalability of this protocol is attributed to the scalability properties of hash functions, which can efficiently process data of any size. ZKPs and hash functions together facilitate the efficient and selective revelation of subsets of a larger data set. The current implementation uses a Merkle Tree-like structure for this purpose, but the protocol is exploring other methods, such as Cryptographic Accumulators, for future enhancements.

To ensure adaptability with technological advances, plans are in place to allow users to select their preferred ZKP algorithms, moving away from the default Poseidon hash function and Groth16 verifier. Furthermore, the integration of Chainlink CCIP and a customizable MFA system, which attaches MFA requirements to data requests, adds another layer of robustness to the protocol.

zkp.services' design also allows for straightforward integration into other applications, facilitated by the API guide and smart contracts provided by zkp.services. This makes it a versatile and adaptable solution for developers looking to incorporate secure data management into their applications.

Who Could Make Use of this Protocol?

The zkp.services protocol, with its focus on safety, transparency, and decentralization, is a versatile tool that caters to a wide array of sectors and applications.

Its ability to handle sensitive data securely while maintaining privacy and transparency makes it ideal for various industries and individual needs. We will next go over a few of the potential possibilities.

Healthcare Industry

The healthcare sector, dealing with sensitive patient data, can benefit significantly from our protocol:

Patient Data Security: Safeguarding patient records while allowing for controlled access by authorized personnel.
Research and Development: Securely sharing data for research purposes without revealing patient identities.
Insurance Processing: Streamlining insurance claims and verifications while keeping patient data private.

Smart Services and ZKML

Our protocol's application extends to next-gen applications and machine learning:

Smart Services: Building secure and private smart services that integrate our contracts that validate actions without revealing underlying data such as for public transportation in a smart city.
ZKML (Zero-Knowledge Machine Learning): Training machine learning models on encrypted data, ensuring privacy and utility.
Decentralized Machine Learning: Tokenizing decentralized machine models and training them on private data as well as receiving results privately.
Federated Learning: Training ML models in a truly decentralized fashion.

Digital Identity and Wallet Services

With the integration of ZKPs and custom MFA, our protocol offers innovative solutions in digital identity and wallet services:

Decentralized Identity Verification: Securely verifying user identities without exposing personal information.
Centralized Digital Wallets: Demonstrating proof of funds or credentials without disclosing exact figures or sensitive details.

Logistics and Transportation

For logistics and transportation, zkp.services can enhance efficiency and security:

Cargo Tracking: Verifying the location and status of goods without disclosing sensitive information.
Supply Chain Management: Enhancing supply chain transparency while maintaining confidentiality of trade secrets.

Financial Sector

In finance, where security and confidentiality are paramount, our protocol offers a robust solution for secure transactions and data management. Financial institutions can utilize zkp.services for activities like:

Secure Transactions: Ensuring the confidentiality and authenticity of transactions without revealing sensitive details.
Audit Compliance: Facilitating transparent audits without compromising client confidentiality. Fraud Detection: Leveraging encrypted data analysis to detect and prevent fraudulent activities.

Custom MFA/KYC & Integration into Custom MFA Equipment

By leveraging our patterns for custom MFA integrations with our simple smart contract interfaces, third parties are able to integrate their custom MFA requirements for data management that relates to their services for additional security. They could also easily build equipment that calls our smart contracts or change their equipment slightly to make simple Web3 calls as required in things such as custom biometric palm print scanners.

Document Verification

In sectors requiring document authentication, zkp.services provides:

Secure Document Verification: Authenticating documents without exposing their content, crucial in legal, educational, and governmental sectors.

In essence, zkp.services is not just a protocol for data management; it's a comprehensive solution for a variety of sectors, addressing the growing need for data security, privacy, and efficiency in the digital economy. Its adaptability and forward- thinking design make it a critical tool for industries and individuals navigating the challenges of a data-driven world.

Leveraging Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs)

Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) stand as a cornerstone technology in the zkp.services protocol, offering a powerful means to ensure data privacy and authenticity. A ZKP is a cryptographic method where one party (the prover) can prove to another (the verifier) the truth of a statement, without revealing any information apart from the fact that the statement is indeed true. This technology is integral to our protocol for its ability to facilitate secure and private verification processes.

The integration of Zero-Knowledge Proofs in zkp.services enables secure and private verification of data possession and updates. It ensures that while data authenticity and compliance are maintained, the privacy of the underlying information remains intact. This blend of security and privacy is what sets our protocol apart in the realm of data management and exchange.

Proving Possession of Data: At the heart of our ZKP implementation is the capability for users to assert ownership or possession of data without exposing the data itself. This aspect is vital in scenarios where verification is necessary but privacy is paramount. For instance, a user can demonstrate that they meet the legal age requirement for alcohol consumption without disclosing their exact age or identity details. Our protocol leverages ZKPs to validate data ownership while keeping specific data attributes concealed, relying solely on mathematical and programming principles.
Verifiably Legal Updates to Data: Our protocol also empowers users to perform legally compliant and verifiable updates to their data. This functionality is key to maintaining the integrity and trustworthiness of the system. Consider a scenario where a pharmacist requests a patient to update their prescription information. Using ZKPs, the pharmacist can verify that the update has been made without accessing the sensitive details of the patient's medical records or prescription. This ensures a secure and private exchange of information, adhering to legal and ethical standards.

Custom MFA and Sybil Attack Resistance

The zkp.services protocol acknowledges the diverse additional security needs of different data applications. The security demands for verifying identity documents at a border control are vastly different from those for checking the balance on a transportation card, for example. This diversity, coupled with the inevitable occurrence of false positives and negatives in identity verification mechanisms, necessitates a flexible and robust multi-factor authentication (MFA) framework.

Trustless, On-Chain MFA Provider

Our protocol features a unique, trustless MFA provider that operates entirely on-chain. This system is crafted using a combination of Chainlink Verifiable Random Functions (VRFs), Chainlink Automation, and Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs). This innovative blend ensures:

Trustless Verification: Users can prove knowledge of a secret or a set of secrets without actual disclosure.
Timeliness Proof via Chainlink VRFs: The VRFs act as a one-time token, indicating the timeliness of a request. This ensures the authentication is relevant and current.
Scalability Through Chainlink Automation: The MFA service is economically scalable, with a single VRF capable of covering all MFA requests within a specified time frame (e.g., five minutes). This approach efficiently handles thousands of requests per minute.

Customizable MFA for Smart Services

Beyond our in-house MFA solution, the protocol offers an interface for MFA verification tailored to the specific needs of different services. This feature allows:

Integration of External MFA Logic: Services can associate the address of a smart contract containing their unique MFA logic with data requests or updates.
Simple MFA Success Check: When a response to a data request is sent, the system checks for a single boolean from the associated MFA smart contract, confirming that the necessary MFA requirements have been met.
Flexibility for Diverse Use Cases: Smart services can implement any MFA method or combination thereof, catering to their specific security needs. This includes integration with custom MFA devices, such as palm scanners.

In conclusion, the Custom MFA and Sybil Attack Resistance feature of the zkp.services protocol offers unparalleled flexibility and security. By providing both an in-house, on-chain MFA solution and the capability to integrate external MFA logic, the protocol ensures that diverse data applications can maintain their unique security standards while benefiting from advanced cryptographic techniques.

Tokenomics (Beta) of zkp.services

zkp.services introduces its native ERC-20 token, "ZKP", which plays a central role in the protocol's economy. This token is utilized in transactions involving data requests and responses, with a structure designed to balance incentives and maintain the token's value.

Transaction Fees and Burn Mechanism

Base Burn Fee: Whenever a party requests data or a data update, they are charged a base burn fee. This fee is a fundamental aspect of each request transaction and serves two purposes:
- Spam Prevention: By imposing a cost on data requests, the base burn fee acts as a deterrent against frivolous or spam requests.
- Deflationary Mechanism: The burn fee helps maintain or potentially increase the value of ZKP tokens by reducing the overall supply, creating a deflationary effect.
Transaction Completion Fee: Completing an update/data transaction incurs a different fee from the recipient/responding party. This fee comprises two components:
- Requester-Set Fee: The party requesting the data/data update sets this part of the fee. It represents the fee that is to be transferred from the responder to the requester and can be thought of as the fee for the service that the requester helps with such as paying for transportation.
- Burn Fee (currently inactive): Similar to the base burn fee, this component is also deducted to discourage spam and manage the token supply.

Control and Consent

The party responsible for responding to data requests/completing requested updates retains full control over each transaction. They have the autonomy to accept or reject each data request based on the offered terms, including the fee set by the requester.

Cross-Chain Backups and Payment

Initial Framework: For chains supporting CCIP (Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol), the base fee for backups is standardized in ZKP tokens. This simplification is designed to enhance user experience by providing a consistent payment method across different chains.
Future Expansion: Plans are in place to broaden the range of accepted tokens for cross-chain backup services. This expansion aims to offer greater flexibility and convenience to users engaging in cross-chain activities.

The tokenomics of zkp.services is built around a balanced system of fees and burn mechanisms, designed to ensure the stability and value of the ZKP token while facilitating a fair and controlled environment for data transactions. The incorporation of cross-chain functionality and future plans for token diversification further enhance the protocol's adaptability and utility in the evolving blockchain ecosystem.