Cryptocurrency Projects Based on ZK Technologies: Leaders Overview and Prospects in 2024

Why ZK Proofs Are Becoming a Priority in the Blockchain Industry

Imagine a transaction you can verify without revealing a single detail. This is now possible thanks to zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) — a cryptographic innovation that addresses two critical issues: privacy and scalability. As of May 2024, the industry has 40 projects utilizing ZK technologies, with a combined market cap of over $21.27 billion.

When the public demands both complete privacy for financial operations and the ability to process millions of transactions per second, ZK proofs become the natural answer. They enable systems to verify the correctness of information without revealing the information itself — an elegant solution for the era of digital hyper-control.

How ZK Proofs Work: The Three Pillars of the Technology

The mechanism of zero-knowledge proofs relies on three inseparable components:

Completeness means that if the statement is true, the verifier recognizes it. Soundness guarantees that a false statement will not pass verification (except in statistically improbable cases). Zero-knowledge — here’s the essence: the verifier learns only one fact: whether the statement is true, but nothing more.

A classic analogy with Alibaba’s cave vividly illustrates the principle: a person proves they know a magic password by passing through the correct door, but never reveals the password itself. The observer is convinced of their knowledge but remains completely ignorant of the secret.

In practice, ZK proofs solve three main problems:

• Conceal sensitive transaction data (sender, receiver, amount)
• Offload blockchain load through batching hundreds of operations into a single proof
• Provide instant verification without loading the full network history

Practical Applications: From Voting to Supply Chain

Financial privacy allows users of Zcash to hide all payment parameters while remaining within a verifiable ledger. Voting systems use ZKP to confirm voter rights without revealing their choice. Authentication works without passwords — the system verifies that you know the password, but you don’t need to transmit it.

Supply chain gains a new dimension: a company proves compliance with environmental standards without revealing suppliers and manufacturing details. Private smart contracts on platforms like Aleph Zero and Mina Protocol perform financial calculations confidentially — critical for corporate applications.

Portfolio of ZK Project Leaders in 2024

Hierarchy by scalability: Polygon Hermez and Immutable X

Polygon Hermez (integrated into the Polygon ecosystem) uses ZK-rollups to compress Ethereum transactions. Result: a 90% reduction in gas fees while maintaining full mainnet security. The Proof of Efficiency (PoE) mechanism supports decentralization without the complexity of PoW.

Immutable X (market flow: $192.28M) uses StarkWare’s StarkEx for handling NFTs and Web3 games. The platform achieves zero gas fees without compromising Ethereum security — technically possible but requiring developers to understand new architectural layers.

Minimalist approach: Mina Protocol (MINA)

Mina Protocol (market cap: $97.30M) — the only blockchain supporting a constant size of 22KB thanks to zk-SNARKs. Each new block compresses the entire history into a compact proof, enabling mobile devices to verify network state.

Consensus Ouroboros Samisika requires fewer resources than traditional PoW. zkApps enable private off-chain computations with results verified on-chain.

Market disruptors: dYdX (DYDX) and Loopring (LRC)

dYdX (market cap: $139.17M) is migrating to its own L2 based on Cosmos + StarkWare. Version 4.0 introduces subaccounts and position management, providing privacy for derivatives via zk-STARKs.

Loopring (market cap: $68.39M) processes over 2000 transactions/sec via zkRollups. The unique “ring miners” (ring miners) match orders and earn compensation in LRC. Supports both AMM and orderbook models.

Privacy as an ideology: Zcash (ZEC) and Horizen (ZEN)

Zcash (market cap: $7.28B) — a legendary fork of Bitcoin from 2016, marking the industry of privacy coins. Shielded transactions hide sender, receiver, and amount. Halo (2019) technology eliminated the need for trusted setup.

Horizen — a Zcash fork with an expanded mission. EON (the first EVM-compatible sidechain) allows launching DeFi projects with full privacy. Its architecture with full nodes, secure nodes, and subnodes creates a multi-layered defense.

Digital Identity: Worldcoin (WLD)

Worldcoin (market cap: $1.26B) combines biometrics (iris scan via Orb) with blockchain. World ID uses the Semaphore protocol (based on ZKP) to prove membership without revealing identity.

Criticism focuses on biometric data collection and regulatory risks, but the innovation remains valid: digital identity without revealing biometric data.

Computing Co-processors: Marlin (POND)

Marlin (market cap: $32.81M) optimizes execution of complex computations off-chain. Gateway nodes distribute load, execution nodes process programs in Solidity/Rust/C++/Go. ZKP + TEE (trusted execution environments) verify results.

The POND staking mechanism ensures security: nodes stake tokens and lose them if standards are violated.

Enterprise Privacy: Aleph Zero (AZERO)

Aleph Zero combines PoS with DAG (directed acyclic graph) in a hybrid AlephBFT. Liminal — a multi-layer privacy layer using ZKP and sMPC (secure multi-party computation).

The platform is tailored for B2B: private smart contracts perform confidential calculations while maintaining blockchain transparency.

Bottlenecks in ZK Technologies That Block Mass Adoption

Cryptographic complexity — implementation requires expertise in advanced mathematical principles. Developer errors can lead to critical vulnerabilities.

Computational load of generating proofs remains high, especially for complex schemes. This freezes speed and increases costs.

Trusted setup (in zk-SNARKs) creates an attack vector: if setup parameters are not destroyed, fake proofs can be generated. zk-STARKs avoid this problem but are slower.

Integration into existing infrastructure requires rewriting network protocols and restructuring the blockchain stack.

Regulatory pessimism — jurisdictions with strict AML/KYC requirements view ZK projects suspiciously.

What Lies Ahead: Technology Development

The future belongs to cross-chain privacy layers, enabling secure transactions across different blockchain networks. Innovations in zk-STARKs and zk-SNARKs will drive a revolution in scalability.

Expected trajectory: more user-friendly ZK systems, integration into mobile apps, and emergent adoption in the corporate sector.

Final Assessment

Zero-knowledge proofs are not just a trend but a fundamental technology of the next-generation blockchain. When privacy and scalability become mandatory rather than optional, ZK-based projects will take center stage. Tracking their progress is critical for understanding the future architecture of the decentralized internet.