Snarktor: A Decentralized Protocol for Scaling SNARKs Verification in Blockchains

Alberto Garoffolo; Dmytro Kaidalov; Roman Oliynykov

Paper 2024/099

Snarktor: A Decentralized Protocol for Scaling SNARKs Verification in Blockchains

Alberto Garoffolo

, Telos Foundation

Dmytro Kaidalov

, IOG

Roman Oliynykov

, IOG, V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University

Abstract

The use of zero-knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge (zk-SNARK) and similar types of proofs has become increasingly popular as a solution for improving scalability, privacy, and interoperability of blockchain systems. However, even with the most advanced proving systems, verifying a single SNARK proof can require a significant amount of computational resources making it expensive to be performed on-chain. This becomes a noticeable bottleneck in scaling SNARK-based applications. Further efficiency improvement to avoid this bottleneck lies in utilizing distributed recursive proof composition to aggregate multiple existing proofs into one that verifies all underlying proofs. Building upon this concept, we present a new protocol for decentralized recursive proof aggregation allowing one unique proof to aggregate many input proofs to be efficiently verified on-chain, increasing the throughput and cost efficiency of SNARK-based blockchains. The protocol is designed for decentralized environments where independent actors (provers) can join and contribute to the proof generation process. We also present an incentive scheme for such actors. The protocol is abstract enough to be used with a variety of proving systems that support recursive aggregation.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Category: Applications
Publication info: Preprint.
Keywords: blockchain zk-SNARK aggregation scalability
Contact author(s): alberto garoffolo @ gmail com
dmtr kd @ gmail com
roliynykov @ gmail com
History: 2024-01-26: approved; 2024-01-22: received; See all versions
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2024/099
License: CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2024/099,
      author = {Alberto Garoffolo and Dmytro Kaidalov and Roman Oliynykov},
      title = {Snarktor: A Decentralized Protocol for Scaling {SNARKs} Verification in Blockchains},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2024/099},
      year = {2024},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/099}
}