Validity proof

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A validity proof, in the context of cryptography and blockchain technology, is a cryptographic construction that allows one party (the prover) to demonstrate to another party (the verifier) that a certain computational statement is true, without necessarily revealing all the information that makes it true. These proofs are a cornerstone of zero-knowledge proof systems and Layer 2 scaling solutions like ZK-rollups.

The prover executes a computation and generates a compact proof attesting to its correctness. The verifier can then quickly check this proof to be convinced of the computation’s validity without having to re-execute the entire computation or learn any sensitive inputs. This is particularly powerful for enhancing privacy and scalability. For example, in a ZK-rollup, a large batch of transactions can be processed off-chain, and a single validity proof is submitted to the main blockchain to confirm the integrity of all those off-chain transactions. Prominent types of validity proofs include ZK-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) and ZK-STARKs (Zero-Knowledge Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge), each with different properties regarding proof size, verification time, and trust assumptions.

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