The Good Tech Companies - How Horizen is Redefining Blockchain with Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/how-horizen-is-redefining-blockchain-with-zero-knowledge-proofs. Explore an exclusive interview with Rob Viglione, co-founder of Horizen Labs, as he unveils the journey and technological advancements of Horizen. Check more stories related to web3 at: https://hackernoon.com/c/web3. You can also check exclusive content about #behind-the-startup, #zero-knowledge-proofs, #rob-viglione, #horizen-labs-co-founder, #zk-technology, #rob-viglione-interview, #horizen-labs, #good-company, and more. This story was written by: @ishanpandey. Learn more about this writer by checking @ishanpandey's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Explore an exclusive interview with Rob Viglione, co-founder of Horizen Labs, as he unveils the journey and technological advancements of Horizen in the blockchain industry. Learn about their shift towards zero-knowledge cryptography, challenges, victories, and future plans in our "Behind the Startup" series.

This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. How Horizon is redefining blockchain with zero knowledge proofs by Ashan Pandey. Welcome to another insightful edition of the Behind the Startup series, where we dive into the journeys of groundbreaking startups within the blockchain sphere. Today, we are joined by Rob Viglione, co-founder of Horizon Labs, who will share the comprehensive saga of Horizon's evolution since its inception in 2017. Join us as Rob recounts the milestones, technological pivots, and strategic decisions that have shaped Horizon's path towards becoming a hub for zero-knowledge projects.

Ashan Pandey. Hello Rob. It's a pleasure to welcome you to our Behind the Startup series. Could you share the full story of Horizon Labs with us? We'd love to hear it, especially the challenges and victories you faced along the way. Feel free to share it all. Rob Viglione Horizon Labs started in 2019 as a protocol developer for Horizon,

an open-source blockchain project launched in 2017. We've established a niche for ourselves as Web3 experts through our work on a number of high-profile industry projects, including in the Ape ecosystem, ApeCoin, ApeChain, OtherDeeds, the Bitcoin ecosystem, Opal, and last but not least, the Horizon ecosystem. We're now laser-focused on developing a modular blockchain solution within Horizon optimized for proof verification as the first step on a broader mission to turbocharge Horizon as a hub for zero-knowledge projects. Ashant Pandey. Can you explain the shift towards making Horizon a hub for ZK technologies in Web3 and how it aligns with the platform's evolution since 2017?

Rob Viglione. For us, it's less a shift than the next stage of a natural progression. Zero-knowledge cryptography has always been at the heart of Horizon. Initially, that expertise was applied towards ensuring privacy on-chain. Then, to permissionless scalability with our interoperability protocol, Zendu. And now to modular proof verification. The through line has always been using ZK cryptography to solve the industry's biggest challenges. As I just alluded to, we're now building a modular blockchain optimized for verifying zero-knowledge proofs. However,

that's just the first step in a much bigger mission to enable new types of cryptography to be used in Web3 that's not possible today with the verification constraints on Ethereum. Ashon Pandey. How does Horizon plan to leverage its position as a pioneer in ZK technology to differentiate itself in the market and attract ZK projects to its ecosystem? Rob Viglione. The first is through our pure technological advantage. Because we have so much experience in ZK cryptography, including a world-class team of cryptographers and cryptographic engineers, we have a true competitive edge. Our team has even invented a couple of highly efficient hash functions that apply a role in our technology, including Poseidon 2 and Monolith.

Our ProA verification layer, currently on Testnet, collapses verification costs by 90% to as much as 99% versus verifying on Ethereum. That performance speaks for itself and makes our go-to market easy. Beyond that, though, is our reputation and support throughout the industry. Because of the Horizon heritage and brand, we are able to attract the best builders, innovators, and talent in the ZK space. Horizon has demonstrated its commitment to the zk industry for almost seven years now and we've seen the fruits of that commitment as we've had many projects and partners sign on to become part of what we're building that will only intensify in the coming

weeks and months and we're so excited for what's coming ashan pondy considering the competitive environment and the emergence of new projects offering proof verification solutions, how does Horizon intend to maintain relevance and compete effectively with its existing tokenomics? Rob Viglione. It's true that we're not the only ones operating in this market segment. But we are the only ones with seven years, or anything close to it, of experience, connections, and support in the ZK space. In my blog post, I've laid out my vision for Horizon

and DollarZen, and explained why I thought that a new token dedicated to the proof verification layer would be beneficial. Given that Horizon began as a fork of Zcash which was itself a fork of Bitcoin it inherited its tokenomics from Bitcoin. The fixed supply cap of 21 million tokens is a significant component of DollarZen's identity and appeal, and I feel strongly that this cap should be preserved. With all of this as a backdrop, I proposed in my blog post that a new token be adopted for the upcoming proof verification chain. This way, DollarZen's core tokenomics are unchanged, and the proof verification layer benefits from a cryptocurrency optimized for it specifically.

Ashan Pandey. What are the potential benefits of adopting a new token for the proof verification layer, and how does this align with Horizen's mission and vision? Rob Viglione. I'll preface this by saying that any potential token for the pro-verification would need to be adopted by the community, and that I'm speaking as a community member and co-founder of Horizon. But the main benefit of a cryptocurrency dedicated to the proof verification layer would be to incentive ease the desired on-chain activity in this case, proof verification. How this would work in practice could play out in any number of ways, but the main point is to facilitate the activity for which the blockchain was purpose-built. Ashan Pandey. As blockchain technology and cryptocurrency adoption continue to grow, regulatory scrutiny intensifies.

What are your views on regulatory challenges in the Web3 ecosystem? Rob Viglione. I've long said that regulation would benefit the Web3 industry, provided that it's done in a thoughtful and constructive way. Clear rules that establish guidelines for participants in the ecosystem would foster the certainty and confidence needed for the industry to grow much more from here. I'm doing my part by assisting efforts by industry trade associations to work with policymakers and help shape constructive regulations. Don't forget to like and share the story. Tip Vested Interest Disclosure. This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. Hacker Noon has reviewed the report for quality,

but the claims herein belong to the author. Hashtag D-Y-O-R. Thank you for listening to this Hacker Noon story, read by Artificial Intelligence. Visit HackerNoon.com to read, write, learn and publish.