ZK Co-processor: Driving Blockchain Technology Towards Large-scale Applications

The co-processor is a processing unit in the computer field responsible for assisting the CPU in handling specific tasks. In the blockchain field, ZK co-processors are becoming a key technology to solve problems such as the high Gas fees on the Ethereum network and limited data access.

Currently, well-known ZK co-processors in the industry mainly focus on three application scenarios: on-chain data indexing, oracles, and ZKML. General-purpose ZKM projects such as Risc Zero, Lagrange, and Succinct are constructing cross-chain ZK virtual machine architectures.

Taking Risc Zero as an example, its Bonsai coprocessor includes components such as the prover network, request pool, and Rollup engine, enabling off-chain computation and data processing. Lagrange focuses on building verifiable databases and computations based on the MapReduce principle. The Succinct Network is dedicated to integrating programmable facts into all aspects of Blockchain development.

Compared to Layer 2, ZK co-processors are more application-oriented and can serve as off-chain virtual machine components for Layer 2, as well as off-chain computation extensions and cross-chain data bridges for public chain applications. They are expected to reconstruct many middleware in the blockchain, such as oracles and cross-chain bridges.

However, ZK co-processors still face challenges such as high development thresholds, complex performance optimization, and insufficient hardware support. But in the long run, with the realization of a fully-chain real-time provable database and low-cost off-chain computing, ZK co-processors are expected to propel blockchain technology into a new phase that supports applications with a scale of 1 billion users.

In the upcoming market cycle, the ZK industry chain is expected to gradually commercialize. Now is a crucial time to refocus on the underlying technologies that will enable Web3 to support massive user bases.