The Zero Knowledge Ecosystem: A Zero to ∞ Opportunity
BitOoda Special Report 4/19/23
Vivek Raman
Key Takeaway #1
Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) present a promising technology that unlock the potential for privacy and for scaling – for blockchains and for real world industry applications.
Key Takeaway #2
What is the downside of ZKP tech? Executing ZK proofs has historically been expensive, with significant hardware and compute costs.
Key Takeaway #3
With the ability to revolutionize privacy and scalability in AI, ML, finance, healthcare, and data storage, the benefits are worth the infrastructure cost.
Key Takeaway #4
Ultimately, ZKPs could be a key pillar in reshaping the broader market for compute.
Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) represent a nascent yet extremely promising technology that has been accelerating into the spotlight in recent years. Representing the frontier of mathematics, cryptography and hardware, ZKPs are uniquely designed to unlock the full potential of the blockchain ecosystem as well as reimagine finance, healthcare, data storage, gaming, and the broader compute industries.
At a high level, a ZKP allows for two things: (1) the ability to accurately prove a piece of information without revealing the content of the information, which is revolutionary for privacy, and (2) the ability to outsource computation to a third party and prove that the task was completed correctly, which enables scaling. ZKPs therefore represent a near magical technology that solves the core issues of blockchains (inability to scale or to ensure financial / data privacy) while unlocking even bigger potential in the broader economy.
However, there is no such thing as a free lunch – and there is a downside of ZKPs: executing ZK proofs has historically been very expensive and computationally intensive. Innovation driven by the blockchain movement over the past 2 years have resulted in drastically lower proving costs and time and for the proliferation of specialized hardware solutions to tackle the computational demand of the potential ZKP market.
Given the potential for ZKPs to reshape the broader economy, we believe it is important to understand the possible market opportunity and infrastructure requirements of the ZKP ecosystem. We take the blockchain ecosystem as a starting point and expand into industries that could benefit from integrating ZKP technology.
We also explore current progress in the ZK ecosystem. Although it is early, there are various teams using ZKPs to scale Ethereum using Layer 2 systems which have recently gone live. There are also new L1 blockchains integrating ZKPs for scalability, privacy, and more. Lastly, fundraising interest in the ZKP ecosystem continues to grow, and we explore recent fundraises.
The potential implications for ZKP technology cannot be overstated, with the ultimate upside for ZKPs as being a core infrastructure layer in the broader compute ecosystem. The potential hardware and compute resources that ZKPs could require once they are ubiquitous technology are massive, and the resulting benefits to the broader economy are even greater.
It took ~13 years for the Bitcoin mining industry to reach a size of $2bn. We believe the ZKP ecosystem could reach a multi-billion market size (and ultimately, orders of magnitude bigger) over a much faster timespan. We believe the Cambrian explosion of ZKP technology is just beginning, and we invite all players to collaborate in this space starting at ground level.
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Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) represent a nascent yet extremely promising technology that has been accelerating into the spotlight in recent years. Representing the frontier of mathematics, cryptography and hardware, ZKPs are uniquely designed to unlock the full potential of the blockchain ecosystem as well as reimagine finance, healthcare, data storage, gaming, and the broader compute industries.
At a high level, a ZKP allows for two things: (1) the ability to accurately prove a piece of information without revealing the content of the information, which is revolutionary for privacy, and (2) the ability to outsource computation to a third party and prove that the task was completed correctly, which enables scaling. ZKPs therefore represent a near magical technology that solves the core issues of blockchains (inability to scale or to ensure financial / data privacy) while unlocking even bigger potential in the broader economy.
However, there is no such thing as a free lunch – and there is a downside of ZKPs: executing ZK proofs has historically been very expensive and computationally intensive. Innovation driven by the blockchain movement over the past 2 years have resulted in drastically lower proving costs and time and for the proliferation of specialized hardware solutions to tackle the computational demand of the potential ZKP market.
Given the potential for ZKPs to reshape the broader economy, we believe it is important to understand the possible market opportunity and infrastructure requirements of the ZKP ecosystem. We take the blockchain ecosystem as a starting point and expand into industries that could benefit from integrating ZKP technology.
We also explore current progress in the ZK ecosystem. Although it is early, there are various teams using ZKPs to scale Ethereum using Layer 2 systems which have recently gone live. There are also new L1 blockchains integrating ZKPs for scalability, privacy, and more. Lastly, fundraising interest in the ZKP ecosystem continues to grow, and we explore recent fundraises.
The potential implications for ZKP technology cannot be overstated, with the ultimate upside for ZKPs as being a core infrastructure layer in the broader compute ecosystem. The potential hardware and compute resources that ZKPs could require once they are ubiquitous technology are massive, and the resulting benefits to the broader economy are even greater.
It took ~13 years for the Bitcoin mining industry to reach a size of $2bn. We believe the ZKP ecosystem could reach a multi-billion market size (and ultimately, orders of magnitude bigger) over a much faster timespan. We believe the Cambrian explosion of ZKP technology is just beginning, and we invite all players to collaborate in this space starting at ground level.
Introduction - What is a Zero Knowledge Proof?
A zero knowledge proof (ZKP) is a cryptographic technique that allows a party (the prover) to demonstrate to another party (the verifier) that they possess accurate knowledge of a specific piece of information without revealing any additional details about the information itself
ZKPs have a wide range of applications in various fields, from capital markets to healthcare to power markets as well as blockchain systems. This is enabled by the key ability of ZKPs to allow verification of information without compromising data confidentiality and privacy
Figure: ZKP Examples Source: BitOoda
Introduction - Overview of Zero Knowledge Proofs
Zero knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are heralded as “magical” technology which enable new possibilities in privacy and scaling:
Privacy
In the current model today, if you have a set of data that you want to share with another party, you would need to send the entire dataset to the counterparty.
By using ZKPs, you can own the full set of data (such as your complete health records) and only need to show a select part of that data (e.g., your blood type) to the third party.
Or, you can now complete a task (such as sending a payment) and show that you have completed the task without revealing the underlying details of the task (such as the amount sent).
ZKPs facilitate privacy by ensuring that data or computational tasks are correct without revealing their actual content.
Scaling
In the current model today, if you want to execute a computational task and ensure it was completed correctly, you would need to do the task yourself (or trust a centralized third party to ensure computational privacy).
By using ZKPs, you can outsource the computational task to a third party (such as a datacenter) instead of doing it yourself. The third party can execute the task and return a succinct proof that verifies that the task was completed correctly.
ZKPs facilitate scaling by allowing outsourcing of computational tasks while ensuring they are executed correctly.
Let’s explore some use cases for ZKPs that are being developed today:
Introduction - Privacy with ZKPs
Zero knowledge proofs facilitate privacy by ensuring that data or computational tasks are correct without needing to reveal their actual content (since a ZKP provides sufficient accuracy)
In a world with increasing data volumes and data being stored online in various places, privacy is important for sensitive personal data in areas like payments, financial services, healthcare, and identity management
Privacy via ZKPs will allow for new ways for data to be shared among third parties without revealing sensitive data and yet maintaining data integrity
Zero knowledge proofs facilitate scaling by enabling computational tasks to be outsourced while ensuring correct execution (via submission of a succinct ZKP in addition to the output)
This allows for a Cambrian explosion in scaling opportunities, first for blockchains and ultimately for general compute tasks
In the blockchain world, Ethereum transactions can be performed off-chain (via L2s), and the bundled transactions plus a ZKP are submitted back to ETH
Other blockchain applications like Filecoin use ZKPs to scale data storage
The Cambrian explosion in ZKP R&D has laid the foundation for ZK technology to integrate with many industries.
This acceleration of ZKP infrastructure was catalyzed by the digital asset industry, as the need to scale and add privacy to the permissionless, open ledger of blockchain technology drove renewed adoption, culminating into ZK-enabled use cases today (slide 15 onward).
However, while the world is waking up to the revolutionary nature of ZKP technology, we are still exploring how large and how resource-intensive the zero knowledge market will be at scale.
Indeed, ZKPs are incredibly useful tech, but there is a caveat: executing a ZK proof is computationally intensive and is very expensive – requiring hardware and compute costs.
This report will not attempt to size the full potential of the ZKP ecosystem (e.g., for the real-world applications mentioned on slide 12), as the wide potential for applications of ZKP technology beyond the crypto ecosystem is still being discovered.
However, we can create a framework to analyze the potential market opportunity for ZKPs, both within and outside of the blockchain ecosystem.
Let’s start with the blockchain ecosystem first:
Infrastructure - ZKP Blockchain Use Cases
Although ZKPs have been in theoretical existence as early as 1987 (see this New York Times article), the technology had not reached mainstream adoption until recently due to software and hardware constraints.
Scaling Blockchains: Indeed, although ZKPs have use cases that span across major industries and a wide variety of applications, blockchains provided an important actionable use case in harnessing ZKPs for scaling transaction throughput.
Major Layer One blockchains, such as Ethereum, face what is called the scalability trilemma, where their design choices favor decentralization (a large number of validators which require consumer-grade hardware that is accessible to many) and security (a very high moat of economic defense, driven by the market cap of the staked L1 asset). As a result of the trilemma, only two of the three desired properties can be optimally achieved, resulting in L1s like Ethereum sacrificing ability to scale (low TPS and high transaction fees).
ZKPs enable Ethereum to achieve scaling while maintaining decentralization and security by moving computation (transactional throughput) off-chain to a Layer Two ecosystem. With this updated design, most users would live on L2s and enjoy fast, low transactions while still inheriting the security and decentralization of L1s. This is achieved via ZK Rollups.
Blockchain Privacy: One of the key features of large, public blockchains like Ethereum is that they are fully transparent. However, one of the biggest problems of large, public blockchains like Ethereum happens to be that they are fully transparent!
Although transparency provides full auditability for public blockchains, unlocking use cases beyond closed systems or private databases, the same feature of transparency hinders adoption for industries where user privacy is a prerequisite.
For example, financial institutions need to protect the privacy of their customers and the integrity of their market actions. In healthcare, providers need to maintain sanctity of their customer data. Today, this would not be possible via blockchains.
ZKPs enable Ethereum to achieve user privacy while ensuring that the underlying data is accurate. This unlocks the full potential of blockchains to be fully transparent for certain applications, while having the capability to preserve key user data privacy in areas like finance, identity, and payments.
ZKPs also facilitate other technical use cases for blockchains, such as ZK oracles and ZK bridges (for more secure blockchain-to-blockchain transactions to counter the wave of bridge hacks over the past year).
Infrastructure - ZKP Blockchain Market Potential
Just in the blockchain space, prover infrastructure will be required in various applications, from ZK Layer 2 solutions to scale Ethereum, to competing L1 blockchains using ZKPs at the base layers, to blockchain infrastructure and apps.
These applications could bring total ZKP prover costs for the crypto ecosystem to over $1 billion.
This market size is the tip of the iceberg, with real world industry applications potentially being magnitudes larger in need for ZKP infrastructure. Let’s explore applications beyond blockchains:
Infrastructure - ZKP Real World Use Cases
While blockchains provide an immediate natural fit due to their transparent nature (which necessitates ZKP privacy) and inability to scale (addressed via ZK rollup scaling), ZKP technologies can be applied to several applications beyond crypto:
The common thread between these applications is that ZK tech allows data to be accessed and verified by different parties while remaining private.
Therefore, beyond scaling blockchains (which use ZKPs to compress many transactions into one "zip file" style bundle), most initial non-crypto use cases for ZKPs will benefit from the privacy-preserving nature of ZKPs.
Infrastructure - The Bigger Picture for ZKPs
Once zero knowledge proofs become ubiquitous across several sectors outside of blockchain, ZKPs could demand significant and persistent computational load for most major industries – resulting in major infrastructure buildout:
ZKPs will help accelerate data centers to becoming "compute refineries" by sparking constructive competition among the data centers. This will help build an independent commodity market for compute, which will result in transparent, liquid, competitive pricing.
As the US and the world moves to more renewable energy, the old paradigm of supply needing to respond to a variable load is shifting toward a paradigm of the load needing to respond to a variable supply.
If ZKPs move toward ubiquity beyond blockchains into large industries that form the foundation of the global economic engine, ZKPs could be one of the ongoing consumers of compute resources.
Renewable energy sources will play an instrumental role in the utility of power for sustainable compute, resulting in a greener, more stable grid using ZKP power consumption as a baseload (similar to BTC mining).
It took ~13 years for the Bitcoin mining industry to reach a size of $2bn. We believe the ZKP ecosystem could reach a multi-billion market size (and ultimately, orders of magnitude bigger) over a much faster timespan.
Infrastructure - BitOoda's Role in the ZKP Ecosystem
BitOoda’s goal is to facilitate institutional adoption of the digital economy – spanning from Bitcoin mining to blockchain to the ZKP infrastructure frontier.
BitOoda is building for a world where demand for compute resources will continue to accelerate.
The rapid innovation across blockchain technology coupled with the rise of artificial intelligence and the proliferation of machine learning points to one underlying trend: the digitization of the economy.
BitOoda’s efforts to commoditize the compute markets will integrate the core infrastructure required for a blossoming ZKP ecosystem – connecting hardware players with data centers and end users of ZKPs.
While early in the life cycle of ZKP’s potential, BitOoda will help facilitate institutional awareness of this multi-billion dollar new industry and help enable the infrastructure evolution that will come with it.
By bringing together the players across the burgeoning ZKP ecosystem, including hardware producers, datacenters, end users, and power producers, BitOoda is actively laying the foundation for compute as a commodity, with ZKPs forming a key pillar.
Current ZK Efforts - zkEVM and zkVM (Layer Two)
Today, one of the most developed use cases for ZKP technology is in the blockchain scaling space. As detailed on slide 10, ZKPs allow for the blockchain “scalability trilemma” to be overcome by moving user transactions to a ZK rollup (Layer Two).
A ZK rollup is a scaling solution for Ethereum that leverages ZKPs to improve the network's throughput and reduce transaction costs. It works by bundling multiple transactions off-chain and then submitting a single proof on-chain, attesting to the validity of the entire batch of transactions. This approach reduces the amount of on-chain data and computation needed, significantly increasing the overall efficiency of the Ethereum network.
Here's a step-by-step explanation of how a zero-knowledge rollup on Ethereum works:
- Off-chain transactions: Users send their transactions to a rollup operator, who is responsible for collecting and processing these transactions off-chain. Transactions can include token transfers, contract interactions, or even decentralized finance (DeFi) operations.
- Aggregating transactions: The rollup operator bundles multiple transactions into a single "rollup block" or "batch." This aggregation is performed off-chain, reducing the load on the Ethereum network.
- Generating a proof: The rollup operator computes a zero-knowledge proof that attests to the correctness and validity of the entire batch of transactions. This proof guarantees that the transactions comply with the protocol rules and do not involve any fraudulent activities such as double-spending or invalid contract calls.
- Submitting the proof on-chain: The rollup operator submits the ZKP, along with a compressed representation of the new account balances, to the Ethereum network. This submission updates the on-chain state without requiring Ethereum nodes to process each individual transaction.
- Verification: Ethereum nodes verify the zero-knowledge proof and update the on-chain state accordingly. If the proof is valid, the bundled transactions are considered confirmed, and the updated state is reflected on the Ethereum network.
By using ZK rollups, Ethereum can achieve higher throughput, reduce congestion, and lower transaction fees, all while maintaining the security and decentralization properties of the underlying blockchain.
Current ZK Efforts: zkEVM - Polygon zkEVM
Polygon has been a consistent scaling solution for smart contract L1s, with a focus on Ethereum and the EVM. Polygon’s flagship product was its PoS chain (a sidechain to Ethereum), which offered cheaper fees than ETH L1 and onboarded a multitude of users and institutions into the crypto ecosystem.
However, the PoS chain was not a true L2 (it did not inherit its security from Ethereum). As such, Polygon invested over $1bn into ZK technology, culminating into Polygon deploying its mainnet zkEVM in March.
Polygon’s zkEVM scales Ethereum by creating a nearly-identical Ethereum environment to seamlessly onboard users, developers, and apps.
Taiko is building a state-of-the-art Ethereum-equivalent (e.g., a “Type 1” zkEVM) ZK rollup. Currently in the alpha testnet phase, Taiko envisions to build a fully decentralized rollup from day 1 – meaning anyone can participate as a prover or a node in the Taiko ecosystem.
A ”Type 1” zkEVM provides the most compatibility with the underlying architecture of Ethereum, or the Ethereum Virtual Machine. It means that underlying gas costs (opcode costs), hash functions, and other architectural structures such as state trees and identical to Ethereum. This results in an equivalent app environment, with the tradeoff of longer prover time.
zkSync has taken a unique approach to scaling Ethereum. Prior to its full-fledged zkEVM mainnet (full Ethereum compatible ZK rollup) which launched in March 2023, zkSync Lite had been the earlier iteration of a production-ready ZK rollup. Important infrastructure advances, like account abstraction (which would create an alternate to private key management), were built into mainstream wallets like Argent that used zkSync Lite.
The launch of zkSync Era marks the evolution of zkSync into an ecosystem mirroring that of Ethereum, where developers and apps can easily migrate and enjoy features like built in account abstraction.
Scroll, like Taiko, aims to build a Type 1, fully-Ethereum equivalent zkEVM with scalable prover infrastructure in place from launch. Scroll’s aim is to allow all flavors of hardware to participate in the proving process by establishing a network of provers that they call Rollers.
These Rollers can be CPUs run by individual consumers or can use more expensive accelerators like GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs to reduce proving time.
Although Rollers are randomly selected by the Coordinator (part of the Scroll node), which democratizes the proving process, the fastest prover will accrue the most rewards as proving can run in parallel.
While we have explored four zkEVM implementations (two on mainnet – Polygon and zkSync, and two in testnet – Taiko and Scroll), we will include one example of a zkVM (zero knowledge virtual machine) that does not attempt to achieve EVM equivalence on an opcode level.
Starkware, which first introduced application-specific ZK rollups with very popular apps such as dYdX (an orderbook style trading platform), is now generalizing its L2 solution into StarkNet, which provides an open computing platform in a zkVM format. Unlike its competing zkEVMs which use Solidity, StarkNet uses its own language (Cairo) optimized for ZK ecosystems.
Beyond the use-case of scaling Ethereum on Layer Two via ZK Rollups (whether zkEVMs or zkVMs), there have been prominent Layer One products that integrate ZKP technology as part of their base architecture.
Ethereum was specifically designed to not integrate ZKPs into its base L1 – this was partially due to the lack of technological development in the ZKP ecosystem, partially due to unknown security consequences from ZKP integration (which is an active research area today), and partially because ETH L1 is designed to be fully transparent and auditable. Therefore, the benefits of ZKPs (scaling and privacy) were outsourced to the L2 design space.
Other blockchain projects have decided to integrate the benefit of ZKP tech directly into L1s. Some projects use ZKPs for private currency transactions (e.g., Zcash), while others use the benefits of ZKP scaling potential (Filecoin).
Although out of the scope of the ZKP market sizing analysis in this report, we will explore two major protocols utilizing ZKP technology at the L1 level: Filecoin and Aleo.
Filecoin was one of the earliest users of ZKP technology, integrating one of the foundational ZK primitives, SNARKS (succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge), at the L1 consensus level.
Filecoin tackles an important use case for blockchains: storing data for clients in a decentralized cloud network. However, Filecoin faces the important questions: how do you prove to the network that you’re indeed storing something and not just lying about that?
ZKPs provide the solution – a way to execute offchain computation (storing data) and generating proofs showing the data is sealed and stored.
Figure: Filecoin Proof System Source: https://filecoin.io/blog/posts/what-sets-us-apart-filecoin-s-proof-system/
Current ZK Efforts: L1 - Aleo
Aleo aims to tackle the intrinsic lack of privacy and scalability on the Ethereum L1 blockchain by establishing a new L1 blockchain integrating programmable privacy and better base layer scalability.
Where the EVM is not optimized for seamless integration of ZKPs (hence the cumbersome task for zkEVMs to convert Solidity into ZK circuits), the Aleo zkCould has a snarkVM (off-chain environment optimized to settle ZKPs) and a snarkOS (the underlying Aleo blockchain state).
This optimization combines the best of Ethereum architecture and the best of zkEVM L2 infrastructure to tackle all sides of the scalability trilemma.
Near the end of 2022, the parent company of zkSync, Matter Labs, announced the close of their $200mm Series C fundraise for ecosystem growth of their zkEVM, zkSync Era (lauched March 2023 and detailed on slide 19). The use of funding proceeds would be to grow the team, to fund third parties to build applications in the zkSync ecosystem, and to fund product R&D. The Series C was led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly Capital.
Continuing the trend of zkEVM L2 fundraises, Scroll announced its $50mm raise in its third funding round, bringing its current valuation to $1.8bn (we explored Scroll on slide 20). With the proceeds, Scroll plans to develop product, build out its ecosystem for its upcoming mainnet launch, and expand its team from ~60 to ~100. Scroll’s round included a variety of investors, including Polychain Capital, Sequoia, Bain Capital Crypto, Moore, and Variant.
The =nil; Foundation is an Ethereum R&D firm that is building out a Proof Marketplace that crypto protocols can use to outsource its ZKP production need. By creating a decentralized “on-demand ZKP” service, L1s like Aleo, L2s like Polygon, an infrastructure projects like ZK bridges, can outsource and access ZK proving in a democratized manner. With the funding proceeds, =nil; plans to further build out its Proof Marketplace. The round was led by Polychain.
Proven is a firm harnessing ZKPs for crypto firms to demonstrate financial solvency. This is done via a “Proof of Solvency” mechanism which uses ZKP tech to enable firms to show assets and liabilities without revealing the full contents of their financial statements. This is especially relevant in the wake of the crypto collapses of 2022, where centralized crypto entities obfuscated financial health. Proven’s target customers include exchanges, asset managers and custodians, and the funding round will be used to expand its developer team. The fundraise was led by Framework Ventures.
Ulvetanna announced $15mm in seed funding at a $55mm valuation. Ulvetanna is a ZKP hardware firm focused on hardware acceleration, or the development of specialized hardware to generate ZK proofs faster and more efficiently. With a thesis that the ZK prover market will resemble the hardware race in the BTC mining industry, Ulvetanna will use the funding proceeds to invest in servers and chip hardware and to build out its team. The fundraise was led by Bain and Paradigm.
Renegade is developing a novel primitive for the DeFi ecosystem: an on-chain dark pool for trading. Currently, all on-chain trading protocols are fully transparent, allowing instant auditability but no privacy for market participants – this has been one of the barriers for institutional adoption of DeFi. Renegade will integrate ZKPs to improve price execution preventing current MEV behavior such as front-running and sandwich attacks. Renegade’s product will be a trustless platform for trades that that anonymously crosses order flow directly at midpoint prices. The seed fundraise of $3.4mm was led by Dragonfly.
Conclusion - Zero to Infinity
Zero knowledge proofs present a paradigm shift for privacy and scaling, as they allow for the validation of information without revealing the content itself. This is particularly important in blockchain networks, which are fully transparent and are intrinsically difficult to scale.
By implementing ZKPs, blockchain systems can foster trust among users without compromising user data, which has been holding back adoption from industries like finance and healthcare – which require sensitive user data to be kept private. ZKPs also allow blockchain systems to scale, therefore reducing costs and increasing speed for end users.
Beyond the realm of blockchain, zero-knowledge proofs have broader implications in the realm of computing and various other applications. ZKPs can be employed in a variety of industries, such as healthcare, finance, and telecommunications, where protecting user data while proving authenticity is of utmost importance.
By enabling secure, private, and efficient validation of information, zero-knowledge proofs have the potential to revolutionize numerous sectors and become an indispensable component of modern privacy-preserving technologies.
In conclusion, zero knowledge proofs provide two revolutionary innovations:
Privacy: ZKPs allow for privacy to be programmable while ensuring accurate underlying data.
Scaling: The future of compute will rely on ZKPs to offload intensive work to third parties in a trustless manner.
Risks to Zero Knowledge Adoption
Despite the numerous benefits of zero knowledge proofs, it is important to acknowledge that this technology is not without risks. We outline potential risks as well as upside cases for ZKP technology:
Downside Risks
Regulatory Concerns –ZKPs effectively seem like magical technology, facilitating privacy while ensuring data integrity. While the sky is the limit for the benefits of this technology, there is likely to be a knowledge and understanding gap that could result in regulatory headwinds. It is important for the industry to work with regulators to responsibly build the ZKP ecosystem.
Technological Limitations – while the full potential of ZKPs makes it seem like the technology could solve all privacy and scaling problems of the future, it is likely that there are technological limitations that have not yet been discovered. These could include high hardware costs, high electricity costs, and potential limits to security.
Hacks / Security –although ZKPs are intended to increase security by facilitating data privacy and computational integrity, there will be a new unexplored attack vector into ZK proving systems and algorithms. The space will need to be built with security as the highest priority.
Upside Risks
Applications Beyond Blockchain – this report has revealed the tip of the iceberg for the potential of the ZKP ecosystem. The size of prover infrastructure could reach $1bn+ with blockchain applications alone. However, this report did not quantitatively analyze the potential market sizes of non-blockchain applications, such as traditional finance, AI/ML, identity, healthcare, data storage, and social media. It is entirely possible that ZKP architecture could integrate deeply with all these industries, creating a TAM that is magnitudes higher than the blockchain use case.
Regulatory Integration – while ZKPs could create an understanding gap with regulatory, especially at the early stages of adoption, ZKPs could ultimately benefit regulatory efforts. Critical regulatory frameworks for applications such as such as KYC/AML, identity, proof of assets/liabilities for banks, proof of authenticity (for sensitive data or computation), medical records transmission, etc. can actually be bolstered by integrating ZKPs. ZKPs could thus end up facilitating better regulatory frameworks across the global economy in the long run.
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Analyst Certification
Vivek Raman, denoted by an “AC” on the cover of this report hereby certifies that all of the views expressed in this report accurately reflect his personal views, which have not been influenced by considerations of the firm’s business or client relationships.
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This research contains the views, opinions, and recommendations of BitOoda. This report is intended for research and educational purposes only. We are not compensated in any way based upon any specific view or recommendation.
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Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) represent a nascent yet extremely promising technology that has been accelerating into the spotlight in recent years. Representing the frontier of mathematics, cryptography and hardware, ZKPs are uniquely designed to unlock the full potential of the blockchain ecosystem as well as reimagine finance, healthcare, data storage, gaming, and the broader compute industries.
At a high level, a ZKP allows for two things: (1) the ability to accurately prove a piece of information without revealing the content of the information, which is revolutionary for privacy, and (2) the ability to outsource computation to a third party and prove that the task was completed correctly, which enables scaling. ZKPs therefore represent a near magical technology that solves the core issues of blockchains (inability to scale or to ensure financial / data privacy) while unlocking even bigger potential in the broader economy.
However, there is no such thing as a free lunch – and there is a downside of ZKPs: executing ZK proofs has historically been very expensive and computationally intensive. Innovation driven by the blockchain movement over the past 2 years have resulted in drastically lower proving costs and time and for the proliferation of specialized hardware solutions to tackle the computational demand of the potential ZKP market.
Given the potential for ZKPs to reshape the broader economy, we believe it is important to understand the possible market opportunity and infrastructure requirements of the ZKP ecosystem. We take the blockchain ecosystem as a starting point and expand into industries that could benefit from integrating ZKP technology.
We also explore current progress in the ZK ecosystem. Although it is early, there are various teams using ZKPs to scale Ethereum using Layer 2 systems which have recently gone live. There are also new L1 blockchains integrating ZKPs for scalability, privacy, and more. Lastly, fundraising interest in the ZKP ecosystem continues to grow, and we explore recent fundraises.
The potential implications for ZKP technology cannot be overstated, with the ultimate upside for ZKPs as being a core infrastructure layer in the broader compute ecosystem. The potential hardware and compute resources that ZKPs could require once they are ubiquitous technology are massive, and the resulting benefits to the broader economy are even greater.
It took ~13 years for the Bitcoin mining industry to reach a size of $2bn. We believe the ZKP ecosystem could reach a multi-billion market size (and ultimately, orders of magnitude bigger) over a much faster timespan. We believe the Cambrian explosion of ZKP technology is just beginning, and we invite all players to collaborate in this space starting at ground level.
Introduction - What is a Zero Knowledge Proof?
A zero knowledge proof (ZKP) is a cryptographic technique that allows a party (the prover) to demonstrate to another party (the verifier) that they possess accurate knowledge of a specific piece of information without revealing any additional details about the information itself
ZKPs have a wide range of applications in various fields, from capital markets to healthcare to power markets as well as blockchain systems. This is enabled by the key ability of ZKPs to allow verification of information without compromising data confidentiality and privacy
Figure: ZKP Examples Source: BitOoda
Introduction - Overview of Zero Knowledge Proofs
Zero knowledge proofs (ZKPs) are heralded as “magical” technology which enable new possibilities in privacy and scaling:
Privacy
In the current model today, if you have a set of data that you want to share with another party, you would need to send the entire dataset to the counterparty.
By using ZKPs, you can own the full set of data (such as your complete health records) and only need to show a select part of that data (e.g., your blood type) to the third party.
Or, you can now complete a task (such as sending a payment) and show that you have completed the task without revealing the underlying details of the task (such as the amount sent).
ZKPs facilitate privacy by ensuring that data or computational tasks are correct without revealing their actual content.
Scaling
In the current model today, if you want to execute a computational task and ensure it was completed correctly, you would need to do the task yourself (or trust a centralized third party to ensure computational privacy).
By using ZKPs, you can outsource the computational task to a third party (such as a datacenter) instead of doing it yourself. The third party can execute the task and return a succinct proof that verifies that the task was completed correctly.
ZKPs facilitate scaling by allowing outsourcing of computational tasks while ensuring they are executed correctly.
Let’s explore some use cases for ZKPs that are being developed today:
Introduction - Privacy with ZKPs
Zero knowledge proofs facilitate privacy by ensuring that data or computational tasks are correct without needing to reveal their actual content (since a ZKP provides sufficient accuracy)
In a world with increasing data volumes and data being stored online in various places, privacy is important for sensitive personal data in areas like payments, financial services, healthcare, and identity management
Privacy via ZKPs will allow for new ways for data to be shared among third parties without revealing sensitive data and yet maintaining data integrity
Zero knowledge proofs facilitate scaling by enabling computational tasks to be outsourced while ensuring correct execution (via submission of a succinct ZKP in addition to the output)
This allows for a Cambrian explosion in scaling opportunities, first for blockchains and ultimately for general compute tasks
In the blockchain world, Ethereum transactions can be performed off-chain (via L2s), and the bundled transactions plus a ZKP are submitted back to ETH
Other blockchain applications like Filecoin use ZKPs to scale data storage
The Cambrian explosion in ZKP R&D has laid the foundation for ZK technology to integrate with many industries.
This acceleration of ZKP infrastructure was catalyzed by the digital asset industry, as the need to scale and add privacy to the permissionless, open ledger of blockchain technology drove renewed adoption, culminating into ZK-enabled use cases today (slide 15 onward).
However, while the world is waking up to the revolutionary nature of ZKP technology, we are still exploring how large and how resource-intensive the zero knowledge market will be at scale.
Indeed, ZKPs are incredibly useful tech, but there is a caveat: executing a ZK proof is computationally intensive and is very expensive – requiring hardware and compute costs.
This report will not attempt to size the full potential of the ZKP ecosystem (e.g., for the real-world applications mentioned on slide 12), as the wide potential for applications of ZKP technology beyond the crypto ecosystem is still being discovered.
However, we can create a framework to analyze the potential market opportunity for ZKPs, both within and outside of the blockchain ecosystem.
Let’s start with the blockchain ecosystem first:
Infrastructure - ZKP Blockchain Use Cases
Although ZKPs have been in theoretical existence as early as 1987 (see this New York Times article), the technology had not reached mainstream adoption until recently due to software and hardware constraints.
Scaling Blockchains: Indeed, although ZKPs have use cases that span across major industries and a wide variety of applications, blockchains provided an important actionable use case in harnessing ZKPs for scaling transaction throughput.
Major Layer One blockchains, such as Ethereum, face what is called the scalability trilemma, where their design choices favor decentralization (a large number of validators which require consumer-grade hardware that is accessible to many) and security (a very high moat of economic defense, driven by the market cap of the staked L1 asset). As a result of the trilemma, only two of the three desired properties can be optimally achieved, resulting in L1s like Ethereum sacrificing ability to scale (low TPS and high transaction fees).
ZKPs enable Ethereum to achieve scaling while maintaining decentralization and security by moving computation (transactional throughput) off-chain to a Layer Two ecosystem. With this updated design, most users would live on L2s and enjoy fast, low transactions while still inheriting the security and decentralization of L1s. This is achieved via ZK Rollups.
Blockchain Privacy: One of the key features of large, public blockchains like Ethereum is that they are fully transparent. However, one of the biggest problems of large, public blockchains like Ethereum happens to be that they are fully transparent!
Although transparency provides full auditability for public blockchains, unlocking use cases beyond closed systems or private databases, the same feature of transparency hinders adoption for industries where user privacy is a prerequisite.
For example, financial institutions need to protect the privacy of their customers and the integrity of their market actions. In healthcare, providers need to maintain sanctity of their customer data. Today, this would not be possible via blockchains.
ZKPs enable Ethereum to achieve user privacy while ensuring that the underlying data is accurate. This unlocks the full potential of blockchains to be fully transparent for certain applications, while having the capability to preserve key user data privacy in areas like finance, identity, and payments.
ZKPs also facilitate other technical use cases for blockchains, such as ZK oracles and ZK bridges (for more secure blockchain-to-blockchain transactions to counter the wave of bridge hacks over the past year).
Infrastructure - ZKP Blockchain Market Potential
Just in the blockchain space, prover infrastructure will be required in various applications, from ZK Layer 2 solutions to scale Ethereum, to competing L1 blockchains using ZKPs at the base layers, to blockchain infrastructure and apps.
These applications could bring total ZKP prover costs for the crypto ecosystem to over $1 billion.
This market size is the tip of the iceberg, with real world industry applications potentially being magnitudes larger in need for ZKP infrastructure. Let’s explore applications beyond blockchains:
Infrastructure - ZKP Real World Use Cases
While blockchains provide an immediate natural fit due to their transparent nature (which necessitates ZKP privacy) and inability to scale (addressed via ZK rollup scaling), ZKP technologies can be applied to several applications beyond crypto:
The common thread between these applications is that ZK tech allows data to be accessed and verified by different parties while remaining private.
Therefore, beyond scaling blockchains (which use ZKPs to compress many transactions into one "zip file" style bundle), most initial non-crypto use cases for ZKPs will benefit from the privacy-preserving nature of ZKPs.
Infrastructure - The Bigger Picture for ZKPs
Once zero knowledge proofs become ubiquitous across several sectors outside of blockchain, ZKPs could demand significant and persistent computational load for most major industries – resulting in major infrastructure buildout:
ZKPs will help accelerate data centers to becoming "compute refineries" by sparking constructive competition among the data centers. This will help build an independent commodity market for compute, which will result in transparent, liquid, competitive pricing.
As the US and the world moves to more renewable energy, the old paradigm of supply needing to respond to a variable load is shifting toward a paradigm of the load needing to respond to a variable supply.
If ZKPs move toward ubiquity beyond blockchains into large industries that form the foundation of the global economic engine, ZKPs could be one of the ongoing consumers of compute resources.
Renewable energy sources will play an instrumental role in the utility of power for sustainable compute, resulting in a greener, more stable grid using ZKP power consumption as a baseload (similar to BTC mining).
It took ~13 years for the Bitcoin mining industry to reach a size of $2bn. We believe the ZKP ecosystem could reach a multi-billion market size (and ultimately, orders of magnitude bigger) over a much faster timespan.
Infrastructure - BitOoda's Role in the ZKP Ecosystem
BitOoda’s goal is to facilitate institutional adoption of the digital economy – spanning from Bitcoin mining to blockchain to the ZKP infrastructure frontier.
BitOoda is building for a world where demand for compute resources will continue to accelerate.
The rapid innovation across blockchain technology coupled with the rise of artificial intelligence and the proliferation of machine learning points to one underlying trend: the digitization of the economy.
BitOoda’s efforts to commoditize the compute markets will integrate the core infrastructure required for a blossoming ZKP ecosystem – connecting hardware players with data centers and end users of ZKPs.
While early in the life cycle of ZKP’s potential, BitOoda will help facilitate institutional awareness of this multi-billion dollar new industry and help enable the infrastructure evolution that will come with it.
By bringing together the players across the burgeoning ZKP ecosystem, including hardware producers, datacenters, end users, and power producers, BitOoda is actively laying the foundation for compute as a commodity, with ZKPs forming a key pillar.
Current ZK Efforts - zkEVM and zkVM (Layer Two)
Today, one of the most developed use cases for ZKP technology is in the blockchain scaling space. As detailed on slide 10, ZKPs allow for the blockchain “scalability trilemma” to be overcome by moving user transactions to a ZK rollup (Layer Two).
A ZK rollup is a scaling solution for Ethereum that leverages ZKPs to improve the network's throughput and reduce transaction costs. It works by bundling multiple transactions off-chain and then submitting a single proof on-chain, attesting to the validity of the entire batch of transactions. This approach reduces the amount of on-chain data and computation needed, significantly increasing the overall efficiency of the Ethereum network.
Here's a step-by-step explanation of how a zero-knowledge rollup on Ethereum works:
- Off-chain transactions: Users send their transactions to a rollup operator, who is responsible for collecting and processing these transactions off-chain. Transactions can include token transfers, contract interactions, or even decentralized finance (DeFi) operations.
- Aggregating transactions: The rollup operator bundles multiple transactions into a single "rollup block" or "batch." This aggregation is performed off-chain, reducing the load on the Ethereum network.
- Generating a proof: The rollup operator computes a zero-knowledge proof that attests to the correctness and validity of the entire batch of transactions. This proof guarantees that the transactions comply with the protocol rules and do not involve any fraudulent activities such as double-spending or invalid contract calls.
- Submitting the proof on-chain: The rollup operator submits the ZKP, along with a compressed representation of the new account balances, to the Ethereum network. This submission updates the on-chain state without requiring Ethereum nodes to process each individual transaction.
- Verification: Ethereum nodes verify the zero-knowledge proof and update the on-chain state accordingly. If the proof is valid, the bundled transactions are considered confirmed, and the updated state is reflected on the Ethereum network.
By using ZK rollups, Ethereum can achieve higher throughput, reduce congestion, and lower transaction fees, all while maintaining the security and decentralization properties of the underlying blockchain.
Current ZK Efforts: zkEVM - Polygon zkEVM
Polygon has been a consistent scaling solution for smart contract L1s, with a focus on Ethereum and the EVM. Polygon’s flagship product was its PoS chain (a sidechain to Ethereum), which offered cheaper fees than ETH L1 and onboarded a multitude of users and institutions into the crypto ecosystem.
However, the PoS chain was not a true L2 (it did not inherit its security from Ethereum). As such, Polygon invested over $1bn into ZK technology, culminating into Polygon deploying its mainnet zkEVM in March.
Polygon’s zkEVM scales Ethereum by creating a nearly-identical Ethereum environment to seamlessly onboard users, developers, and apps.
Taiko is building a state-of-the-art Ethereum-equivalent (e.g., a “Type 1” zkEVM) ZK rollup. Currently in the alpha testnet phase, Taiko envisions to build a fully decentralized rollup from day 1 – meaning anyone can participate as a prover or a node in the Taiko ecosystem.
A ”Type 1” zkEVM provides the most compatibility with the underlying architecture of Ethereum, or the Ethereum Virtual Machine. It means that underlying gas costs (opcode costs), hash functions, and other architectural structures such as state trees and identical to Ethereum. This results in an equivalent app environment, with the tradeoff of longer prover time.
zkSync has taken a unique approach to scaling Ethereum. Prior to its full-fledged zkEVM mainnet (full Ethereum compatible ZK rollup) which launched in March 2023, zkSync Lite had been the earlier iteration of a production-ready ZK rollup. Important infrastructure advances, like account abstraction (which would create an alternate to private key management), were built into mainstream wallets like Argent that used zkSync Lite.
The launch of zkSync Era marks the evolution of zkSync into an ecosystem mirroring that of Ethereum, where developers and apps can easily migrate and enjoy features like built in account abstraction.
Scroll, like Taiko, aims to build a Type 1, fully-Ethereum equivalent zkEVM with scalable prover infrastructure in place from launch. Scroll’s aim is to allow all flavors of hardware to participate in the proving process by establishing a network of provers that they call Rollers.
These Rollers can be CPUs run by individual consumers or can use more expensive accelerators like GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs to reduce proving time.
Although Rollers are randomly selected by the Coordinator (part of the Scroll node), which democratizes the proving process, the fastest prover will accrue the most rewards as proving can run in parallel.
While we have explored four zkEVM implementations (two on mainnet – Polygon and zkSync, and two in testnet – Taiko and Scroll), we will include one example of a zkVM (zero knowledge virtual machine) that does not attempt to achieve EVM equivalence on an opcode level.
Starkware, which first introduced application-specific ZK rollups with very popular apps such as dYdX (an orderbook style trading platform), is now generalizing its L2 solution into StarkNet, which provides an open computing platform in a zkVM format. Unlike its competing zkEVMs which use Solidity, StarkNet uses its own language (Cairo) optimized for ZK ecosystems.
Beyond the use-case of scaling Ethereum on Layer Two via ZK Rollups (whether zkEVMs or zkVMs), there have been prominent Layer One products that integrate ZKP technology as part of their base architecture.
Ethereum was specifically designed to not integrate ZKPs into its base L1 – this was partially due to the lack of technological development in the ZKP ecosystem, partially due to unknown security consequences from ZKP integration (which is an active research area today), and partially because ETH L1 is designed to be fully transparent and auditable. Therefore, the benefits of ZKPs (scaling and privacy) were outsourced to the L2 design space.
Other blockchain projects have decided to integrate the benefit of ZKP tech directly into L1s. Some projects use ZKPs for private currency transactions (e.g., Zcash), while others use the benefits of ZKP scaling potential (Filecoin).
Although out of the scope of the ZKP market sizing analysis in this report, we will explore two major protocols utilizing ZKP technology at the L1 level: Filecoin and Aleo.
Filecoin was one of the earliest users of ZKP technology, integrating one of the foundational ZK primitives, SNARKS (succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge), at the L1 consensus level.
Filecoin tackles an important use case for blockchains: storing data for clients in a decentralized cloud network. However, Filecoin faces the important questions: how do you prove to the network that you’re indeed storing something and not just lying about that?
ZKPs provide the solution – a way to execute offchain computation (storing data) and generating proofs showing the data is sealed and stored.
Figure: Filecoin Proof System Source: https://filecoin.io/blog/posts/what-sets-us-apart-filecoin-s-proof-system/
Current ZK Efforts: L1 - Aleo
Aleo aims to tackle the intrinsic lack of privacy and scalability on the Ethereum L1 blockchain by establishing a new L1 blockchain integrating programmable privacy and better base layer scalability.
Where the EVM is not optimized for seamless integration of ZKPs (hence the cumbersome task for zkEVMs to convert Solidity into ZK circuits), the Aleo zkCould has a snarkVM (off-chain environment optimized to settle ZKPs) and a snarkOS (the underlying Aleo blockchain state).
This optimization combines the best of Ethereum architecture and the best of zkEVM L2 infrastructure to tackle all sides of the scalability trilemma.
Near the end of 2022, the parent company of zkSync, Matter Labs, announced the close of their $200mm Series C fundraise for ecosystem growth of their zkEVM, zkSync Era (lauched March 2023 and detailed on slide 19). The use of funding proceeds would be to grow the team, to fund third parties to build applications in the zkSync ecosystem, and to fund product R&D. The Series C was led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly Capital.
Continuing the trend of zkEVM L2 fundraises, Scroll announced its $50mm raise in its third funding round, bringing its current valuation to $1.8bn (we explored Scroll on slide 20). With the proceeds, Scroll plans to develop product, build out its ecosystem for its upcoming mainnet launch, and expand its team from ~60 to ~100. Scroll’s round included a variety of investors, including Polychain Capital, Sequoia, Bain Capital Crypto, Moore, and Variant.
The =nil; Foundation is an Ethereum R&D firm that is building out a Proof Marketplace that crypto protocols can use to outsource its ZKP production need. By creating a decentralized “on-demand ZKP” service, L1s like Aleo, L2s like Polygon, an infrastructure projects like ZK bridges, can outsource and access ZK proving in a democratized manner. With the funding proceeds, =nil; plans to further build out its Proof Marketplace. The round was led by Polychain.
Proven is a firm harnessing ZKPs for crypto firms to demonstrate financial solvency. This is done via a “Proof of Solvency” mechanism which uses ZKP tech to enable firms to show assets and liabilities without revealing the full contents of their financial statements. This is especially relevant in the wake of the crypto collapses of 2022, where centralized crypto entities obfuscated financial health. Proven’s target customers include exchanges, asset managers and custodians, and the funding round will be used to expand its developer team. The fundraise was led by Framework Ventures.
Ulvetanna announced $15mm in seed funding at a $55mm valuation. Ulvetanna is a ZKP hardware firm focused on hardware acceleration, or the development of specialized hardware to generate ZK proofs faster and more efficiently. With a thesis that the ZK prover market will resemble the hardware race in the BTC mining industry, Ulvetanna will use the funding proceeds to invest in servers and chip hardware and to build out its team. The fundraise was led by Bain and Paradigm.
Renegade is developing a novel primitive for the DeFi ecosystem: an on-chain dark pool for trading. Currently, all on-chain trading protocols are fully transparent, allowing instant auditability but no privacy for market participants – this has been one of the barriers for institutional adoption of DeFi. Renegade will integrate ZKPs to improve price execution preventing current MEV behavior such as front-running and sandwich attacks. Renegade’s product will be a trustless platform for trades that that anonymously crosses order flow directly at midpoint prices. The seed fundraise of $3.4mm was led by Dragonfly.
Conclusion - Zero to Infinity
Zero knowledge proofs present a paradigm shift for privacy and scaling, as they allow for the validation of information without revealing the content itself. This is particularly important in blockchain networks, which are fully transparent and are intrinsically difficult to scale.
By implementing ZKPs, blockchain systems can foster trust among users without compromising user data, which has been holding back adoption from industries like finance and healthcare – which require sensitive user data to be kept private. ZKPs also allow blockchain systems to scale, therefore reducing costs and increasing speed for end users.
Beyond the realm of blockchain, zero-knowledge proofs have broader implications in the realm of computing and various other applications. ZKPs can be employed in a variety of industries, such as healthcare, finance, and telecommunications, where protecting user data while proving authenticity is of utmost importance.
By enabling secure, private, and efficient validation of information, zero-knowledge proofs have the potential to revolutionize numerous sectors and become an indispensable component of modern privacy-preserving technologies.
In conclusion, zero knowledge proofs provide two revolutionary innovations:
Privacy: ZKPs allow for privacy to be programmable while ensuring accurate underlying data.
Scaling: The future of compute will rely on ZKPs to offload intensive work to third parties in a trustless manner.
Risks to Zero Knowledge Adoption
Despite the numerous benefits of zero knowledge proofs, it is important to acknowledge that this technology is not without risks. We outline potential risks as well as upside cases for ZKP technology:
Downside Risks
Regulatory Concerns –ZKPs effectively seem like magical technology, facilitating privacy while ensuring data integrity. While the sky is the limit for the benefits of this technology, there is likely to be a knowledge and understanding gap that could result in regulatory headwinds. It is important for the industry to work with regulators to responsibly build the ZKP ecosystem.
Technological Limitations – while the full potential of ZKPs makes it seem like the technology could solve all privacy and scaling problems of the future, it is likely that there are technological limitations that have not yet been discovered. These could include high hardware costs, high electricity costs, and potential limits to security.
Hacks / Security –although ZKPs are intended to increase security by facilitating data privacy and computational integrity, there will be a new unexplored attack vector into ZK proving systems and algorithms. The space will need to be built with security as the highest priority.
Upside Risks
Applications Beyond Blockchain – this report has revealed the tip of the iceberg for the potential of the ZKP ecosystem. The size of prover infrastructure could reach $1bn+ with blockchain applications alone. However, this report did not quantitatively analyze the potential market sizes of non-blockchain applications, such as traditional finance, AI/ML, identity, healthcare, data storage, and social media. It is entirely possible that ZKP architecture could integrate deeply with all these industries, creating a TAM that is magnitudes higher than the blockchain use case.
Regulatory Integration – while ZKPs could create an understanding gap with regulatory, especially at the early stages of adoption, ZKPs could ultimately benefit regulatory efforts. Critical regulatory frameworks for applications such as such as KYC/AML, identity, proof of assets/liabilities for banks, proof of authenticity (for sensitive data or computation), medical records transmission, etc. can actually be bolstered by integrating ZKPs. ZKPs could thus end up facilitating better regulatory frameworks across the global economy in the long run.
Disclosures
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This research is only for the clients of BitOoda. This research is not intended to constitute an offer, solicitation, or invitation for any securities and may not be distributed into jurisdictions where it is unlawful to do so. For additional disclosures and information, please contact a BitOoda representative at info@bitooda.io.
Analyst Certification
Vivek Raman, denoted by an “AC” on the cover of this report hereby certifies that all of the views expressed in this report accurately reflect his personal views, which have not been influenced by considerations of the firm’s business or client relationships.
Conflicts of Interest
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