Viewpoint》Why ZK or let Ethereum return to the PoW Proof of Work era?

Ethereum is being ZKIZED, and ZK proofers require hardware acceleration, and Ethereum's economic model may eventually become PoS and PoW coexisting, forming a new "hybrid consensus" model. Ethereum Foundation Researcher: Solana's Golden Age is Over!) Two major advantages will be surpassed by ETH L2) (background added: Ethereum mad bull start? ETH jumped 13% The top ten tokens were the strongest, ENS, Puffer. Ecological coinbig pump 50%) Web3Caff founder Gootor made a very important point, here is to share some further thoughts: Ethereum is being ZKIZED, and ZK proofers need hardware acceleration, like BTCMining has hardware dependencies, then ZK mining may become a new type of PoW. Ethereum's economic model may eventually become a PoS and PoW coexistence, forming a new "hybrid consensus" model. Next, let's take a closer look at the underlying logic of the above assumptions. 1. Ethereum is ZK The basic principle of ZK (zero-knowledge proof) is that one party can prove to another party that a claim is true without providing any additional information. This is a very promising technology. ZK technology is currently mainly used in the field of block chain expansion. V God has been pushing ZK technology, and due to V God's will and inclination, the Ethereum Foundation has also invested in various ZK projects. However, the ZK project has a relatively long cycle of this infrastructure layer, so what our ordinary users can directly perceive at present is a variety of ZK Rollup, that is, the Ethereum Layer2 solution of the ZK series. Typical representatives are zkSync, Starknet, Polygon zkEVM, Scroll, Linea, etc. These are integrated ZK technologies at Ethereum's execution layer. And Ethereum itself is gradually ZK. Consensus layer ZK (such as the Beam Chain proposal): By zk-zkifying the validation process for Consensus operations, the Consensus process can be simplified and accelerated. ZK data layer: Only the proof is stored and not all transaction data is stored, which can significantly reduce the on-chain storage requirement. In these ways, Ethereum is able to significantly improve the performance of its network while maintaining its decentralization and security, including transaction processing speed, cost, and privacy protection. The introduction of ZK technology is seen as part of the Ethereum ecosystem's long-term expansion strategy to address higher user needs and application complexity. 2. Why does ZK need to combine hardware? ZK has many advantages mentioned above, but the biggest obstacle ZK currently faces is the performance issue of generating ZKP (Zero-Knowledge Proofs). ZK works by enabling validators to combine multiple transactions into a single, concise proof, and then submit transactions to the mainnet, eventually scaling the mainnet. But ZK is also limited, because the process of generating proofs is very resource-intensive in terms of time and effort. The establishment of proofs is often slowed down by the need for many complex mathematical operations, such as power operations, reciprocal operations, and bilinear pairing calculations. Software optimization alone cannot further improve performance, so it is necessary to combine hardware, and by using dedicated hardware for acceleration, the proof generation speed can be increased from the original hour level to the second level, which will be a huge improvement. Therefore, ZK has hardware dependencies and requires a dedicated chip. With the increasing application of ZKP technology in privacy computing, block chain expansion and other fields, the generation speed and efficiency of ZKP have become bottlenecks, and the market demand for hardware is becoming increasingly strong. 3. How to combine PoS and ZK Mining? If ZK hardware acceleration is used, hardware mining can be implemented, and a new economic model has emerged. What is ZK Mining? While traditional PoW (Proof of Work) mining relies on solving complex mathematical problems, ZK hardware mining is the ability to quickly generate ZKP. Similar to PoW Mining, participants can compete for the speed and efficiency of generating ZKP, with the participant who generates valid proof first rewarded with a reward. How exactly do PoS and ZK combine? In a PoS system, validators (i.e., stakers) are responsible for validating transactions and proposing new blocks. ZK proofs can be used to prove the correctness of a certain block or series of transactions, enhancing security and drop verification costs. Validators, while performing their PoS duties, generate ZKP as additional proof of their work. Validators that successfully generate and submit valid ZKP can earn additional rewards on top of the existing Block rewards. This can be some form of reward within ETH or the network (like part of a specific token or gas fee). The MainnetBlock reward can be divided into two parts, forming a hierarchical reward system: one part of the reward is used for traditional PoS validation, and the other part is distributed according to Node's contribution in ZK proof generation. It can be seen that ZK can be used as an enhancement to PoS validation, and ZK Mining can be used as an extension of PoS stake. In addition to staking ETH for PoS rewards, stakers can also earn additional rewards by participating in ZK-related work. For example, stakers can run ZK proofs to generate Nodes and provide computing resources to support the application of ZK technology. But this is just a possibility, if Ethereum's existing PoS mechanism is to be integrated with ZK technology, the current PoS protocol needs to be modified or extended to accommodate the role of ZK proof. And a fair incentive model must be designed to ensure that it does not weaken the incentive effect of PoS and promotes the adoption of ZK technology. 4. Will ZK Mining introduce new positive externalities? After Ethereum switched from PoW to PoS, the most criticized point is that there are no externalities introduced into this "closed" economic system. PoW is external, requiring energy and hardware, thus extending the economic activity of the Block chain to the outside of the Block chain and affecting the real world. In the PoS system, the qualification of verified blocks is mainly based on the number of tokens held (i.e., stakes), and economic activities are more focused on stakes and intra-network transactions, rather than involving a wide range of external industries such as mining rig production and electricity markets like PoW. ZK acceleration hardware, like PoW Mining Rig, requires dedicated hardware, but the "invalid power consumption" problem will be dropped, because PoW is to solve mathematical problems to compete for block rights, while ZK Mining is to generate valid proofs to verify transactions, without different nodes to do repetitive invalid labor. 5, AI and ZK sharing Computing Power Further, there will be a ZK Computing Power market, and even AI Computing Power and ZK Computing Power can be shared. There may be an all-in-one platform that provides comprehensive computing services to support the computing needs of AI and ZK tasks. Users can handle AI tasks that require high-performance computing and tasks that require ZK attestation generation on the same platform. Integration is also possible at the protocol level: Smart contracts or protocols are established so that AI computing power providers can also participate in the generation of ZK proofs, or use ZK technology to verify the results of AI calculations. Computing Power can also be carried out...