Polygon – an Ether-focused compatible blockchains layer two scaling solution – reportedly disclosed official details regarding its zk-STARK powered Miden Virtual Machine, supporting the growth of DApps. 

Specifically, zk-STARK – which is short for zero-knowledge Scalable Transparent ARgument of Knowledge – reportedly facilitates proving of one party to the other that they have in their possession private data (nominally a password) without disclosing the exact information. 

Polygon has reportedly set aside a more than $1 billion investment dedicated to the growth of zero-knowledge technology.

One nominal use case of zk-STARK is for complex DeFi like decentralized car insurance or healthcare products, because of the demand for identity verification.

zk-STARK and schemes of the same type have the ability to keep sensitive data a secret on digitized assets, for example driver’s license or passport copies, together with bringing down their size for fast verification by blockchain participants.

It would further make sure that nodes have the ability to complete certification of the authenticity of such documents, while still keeping them clear away from making associations with users’ actual personal information – consequently decreasing worries related to privacy, and forming trust for the DeFi offering. 

It can further be utilized to achieve simplification for cryptographic proofs in consensus mechanisms as well as enhancing computational performance.

“ZK is the way ahead for Ethereum and Miden VM is one of the most important elements in Polygon’s roadmap for Ethereum scalability. It will simplify and accelerate validation for DeFi apps and cryptocurrencies — enhancing the speed and scale of the Polygon ecosystem.” Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, additionally claimed.