Author: Dylan Bane, Messari analyst and Vinayak Kurup, head of research at EV3 Ventures; Compiled by: 0xjs@金财经

zk-TLS technology ((Zero-Knowledge Transport Layer Security)) enables all users to Data can be verified and transplanted across platforms, subverting Web2. Leveraging this technology can break up multi-trillion dollar monopolies while maximizing user privacy through ZKP. This report takes an in-depth look at zk-TLS and explores how this breakthrough technology could revolutionize the Internet by enabling verifiable, portable, and private user data.

By allowing third parties to access user data without relying on the Web2 platform, zk-TLS is expected to break centralized monopolies, empower users, and unlock new applications in entertainment, DeFi, AI and other fields.

Zk-TLS has the potential to promote Internet sovereignty and composability, and it promises to transform the industry by breaking down walled gardens and fostering decentralized ecosystems.

The first use cases of zk-TLS will enter PMF in 2025, enabling on-chain identity scoring, vampire attacks on platforms such as Uber, etc.

Zk-TLS project overview:

Originally, Web2 was built on the spirit of the open network. Companies quickly realized profits came from siled data and built walls to keep users out. Even Twitter shut down its API months before its IPO. Web2 becomes value-extractable, depriving users of data sovereignty.

zk-TLS Timeline:

In 2014, Ethereum researchers realized that they could verify previously siled data by focusing on the network layer. Building on this foundation, researchers at Cornell University released DECO in 2019, which eliminated the reliance on server cooperation and introduced ZKP to protect data privacy. This is where zk-TLS was born.

Zk-TLS use cases range widely:

From vampire attacks on Web2 platforms like DoorDash, to enabling on-chain credit scoring, to providing verifiable private data to train LLM. Any user data on the internet can be used for new use cases via zk-TLS.

zk-TLS architecture:

When you access your bank account, your computer communicates with the bank's server. zk-TLS verifies this process by having a verifier observe and verify that the data being sent is correct. It does this in 3 ways: Multi-Party Computation (MPC), proxy or just use TEE.

For example, Opacity uses MPC to solve this problem. Validators ensure that logins and information access are handled correctly. Validators are randomly selected, minimizing the possibility of collusion.

Take Earnifi, for example, which uses Opacity's MPC model to ensure that people work the hours they claim to work. zk-TLS enables them to underwrite loans more efficiently than earned-wage-access (EWA) and payday loan companies that charge exorbitant fees. Entire industries will be disrupted.

While we expect the first use cases to be discovered for PMF in 2025, zk-TLS faces many challenges.

For example: scalability issues, the server may detect a large number of proxy sessions; Web2 backlash; resolving friction unfamiliar to ZKP.