Odaily Planet Daily report: Andreessen Horowitz’s A16z Crypto recently published a blog post providing a technical update on its open-source Jolt zkVM, while highlighting widespread misuse of the term “ZK (zero-knowledge)” within the industry.
a16z states that many so-called zkVMs do not possess true zero-knowledge properties unless an additional, costly "wrapping" process is performed. This process typically requires recursively verifying the zkVM's proof within another truly zero-knowledge proof system, which is computationally expensive and often necessitates a "trusted setup," thereby compromising system transparency.
The article points out that, in many developer contexts, "zk" has gradually come to be used as a synonym for "succinctness"—referring to small proof sizes and fast verification speeds—rather than true zero-knowledge privacy.
a16z believes that as the industry's demand for privacy protection grows, this conflation of concepts is becoming an issue. True zero-knowledge proofs should prioritize safeguarding the prover's sensitive data, not merely providing efficient verification mechanisms.
Meanwhile, a16z also announced the introduction of the NovaBlindFold folding scheme for Jolt zkVM to enhance its privacy capabilities, making the virtual machine more suitable for privacy-focused use cases.