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Zero-knowledge proofs experts predict continued growth and adoption of the technology ZKPs in 2025. They highlight improvements in proving performance and developer tools among changes that will make the technology more practical for privacy and scalability.
Zero-Knowledge Proofs Poised to Revolutionize Finance and Other Sectors
While the concept of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) emerged in the late 1980s, the technology has gained significant traction in recent years. 2024, in particular, is seen as a pivotal year. From a significant increase in ZKP-related developer projects to growing regulatory interest, the past twelve months solidified ZKPs’ position as a critical technology with the potential to revolutionize various sectors.
To explore the technology’s prospects in 2025, Bitcoin.com News reached out to several experts. While a consensus exists on the technology’s direction, experts have mixed views on factors contributing to ZKPs’ continued growth and adoption in the coming year.
For example, Nanak Nihal, co-founder of Holonym, projects significant increases in ZKP proving performance, a key factor for making the technology practical for privacy and scalability. Nihal also expects ZK developer tooling to become easier to use, enticing more developers to incorporate the technology.
Den Manu, CMO at Funtico, shares Nihal’s sentiments. Manu also said he foresees ZKPs becoming a “cornerstone” for applications requiring privacy and scalability. While Nihal expects the client-side of ZK to become “increasingly practical” in 2025, Manu anticipates widespread integration of ZK-protocols across platforms.
The Funtico CMO adds that in 2025, multi-layer blockchains (Layer 2s) will heavily rely on ZK-rollups to minimize network load. This, according to him, significantly increases transaction throughput and makes blockchain applications more efficient and accessible.
ZKPs Set for 100-Fold Improvement
Omar Azhar, VP, Head of Business Development at Matter Labs, said he anticipates “another 10-100x improvement in the core technology itself.” This feat, Azhar explains, would significantly lower the cost to generate ZK proofs for transactions. Regarding ZKsync, which he said has improved 10-fold since its inception two years ago, Azhar said:
“Expect this to continue into 2025. I’d also expect us to no longer be bound by just ZKevms as we see ZKvms mature, such as the new upcoming prover for ZKsync which would enable developers to build using other languages such as C++, Rust, etc. This would significantly open up the design space for different application types and the scale of those applications.”
However, one expert, Sander Görtjes, CEO of Hello Labs, argued that ZKPs as a signature of secure execution “will remain a nascent concept.” Görtjes added that his team anticipates “less focus” on technological breakthroughs and more on educating the public about the distinct advantages offered by ZKPs.
Regarding the use of ZK protocols beyond finance, the Hello Labs CEO assessed that the technology’s ability to prove the correct execution of a small program on specific data can be vital for enabling confidential transactions in the healthcare industry, for example. Still, fellow expert Azhar, however, asserts that progress “on the identity side of things” is needed before building a critical mass of healthcare institutions utilizing ZKPs.