StarkWare launches mobile-friendly zero-knowledge prover

Blockchain company StarkWare has unveiled zero-knowledge (ZK) prover STARK Two (S-two), enabling enhanced privacy and verification on everyday devices like phones, laptops and browsers. 

The company said the new ZK prover allows users to generate complex cryptographic proofs from the client side. This means users can generate ZK-proofs directly on their devices instead of relying on a server or cloud infrastructure, opening the door for faster and more private applications across the internet. 

“S-two will bring STARK proving to everyday devices, and open the door for new real-world proving use cases,” said Eli Ben-Sasson, StarkWare co-founder and CEO, adding that the tool could empower the next wave of ZK applications. 

The company said the ZK prover is now available in public alpha and is set to roll out on Starknet, its Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, later this year.  

StarkWare said that benchmark tests for the S-two ZK prover showed that it was 39 times faster than previous solutions. The performance leap enables smoother experiences in privacy-enhancing applications. 

The upgrade also allows use cases in private transactions, ZK-based identity and verifiable artificial intelligence. StarkWare said S-two runs on CPUs, GPUs and will soon be on browsers. 

“For years we’ve called the prover our magic wand, a tool that transforms complex computation into a simple proof,” Ben-Sasson said. “Now, the wand has become a lightsaber in your pocket, something anyone can wield, instantly, from your own device.”

According to StarkWare, developers can build with S-two, adding that its alpha release supports hardware targets. Furthermore, the company said ZK ecosystem participants like Kakarot, Nexus, ZAN and AntChain OpenLabs have already adopted the technology. 

Kakarot uses S-two inside ETHProofs to generate Ethereum block proofs more efficiently, while Nexus is standardizing RISC-V traces to align with S-two’s architecture. Meanwhile, ZAN and AntChain OpenLabs are adding GPU acceleration to push the prover’s performance even further.

StarkWare chief operating officer Oren Katz told Cointelegraph that S-two marks a shift in how ZK-proofs are used in daily lives. Generating validity proofs directly in devices will allow privacy-preserving features in messaging, payments and digital identity. 

“You can prove a payment was valid without showing your balance, or verify identity without revealing personal details,” Katz added. 

Katz said that even salary payments could be made onchain with full transparency and no exposure of sensitive information. He dubbed the development a “big step toward bringing zero-knowledge tech into the mainstream.”

Beyond privacy, Katz said, local proof generation also unlocks use cases in other industries. The executive told Cointelegraph that it can allow gamers to play offline and later generate cryptographic proof of their achievements. 

“An operator, instead of running all logic onchain to prove integrity, can run it on their own servers and simply generate a proof that it was executed correctly,” Katz added.

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The launch of StarWare’s upgraded ZK prover follows Ethereum’s push for better privacy. On April 11, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a roadmap that addressed privacy enhancements for wallets, decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and infrastructure. 

Buterin advocated implementing privacy-enhancing norms and features across the Ethereum ecosystem, including adding privacy tools in ETH wallets. 

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