The following is a guest post by Rob Viglione, CEO of Horizen Labs.
Standards are the unsung heroes of technological innovation. They pave the way for true interoperability and establish a solid foundation for businesses to operate. A solid foundation of standards and guidelines makes it possible for builders to take a longer view and design more reliable technology.
From HTTP for web browsing to SMTP for email, standards have catalyzed paradigm shifts that shaped the modern world. As privacy technology matures, the emergence of standards for zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) promises to usher in a new era for web3 and beyond.
An effort to standardize ZK is underway
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a U.S. government agency that focuses on developing and maintaining standards across a variety of industries, including cybersecurity, AI, healthcare, and cryptography. Operating under the Department of Commerce, NIST sets benchmarks for technical standards and measurements within the country.
Now, as part of its Privacy-Enhancing Cryptography (PEC) initiative, NIST has set an anticipated 2025 deadline to standardize zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), which could be impactful for the blockchain world and beyond.
To do this, they’ve opened a “Threshold Call” — which is an ongoing open call for researchers to submit their proposals for advanced cryptographic techniques. By doing this, the agency gathers a comprehensive set of reference material that they can use to base their analysis and standardization efforts. Essentially, it’s a way for the research community to weigh in on how these specifications and standards should be crafted, and why.
For this open call, experts have been asked to submit and refine ZKP schemes to ensure consistency, security, and usability across applications. Without these standards, ZKPs risk becoming a fragmented patchwork of solutions as adoption skyrockets.
Standards unlock new eras of technological growth
With formal standards in place, we can build trust and interoperability in fields like blockchain, finance, and identity verification, much like HTTP did for web browsing.
HTTP established the internet as we know it, by creating a standardized way for computers to communicate and transfer data and multimedia. With HTTP, users could now visit different websites using any browser, operating system, or device. It also unlocked the ability to use hyperlinks, making the internet interactive and easy for anyone to navigate.
Before HTTP, the internet was largely text-based and centered around a command-line interface. Used by academics and researchers, users could navigate to files and information by entering commands, but there wasn’t a graphical interface or hyperlinks to jump between pages. It was basically just a limited network of computers sharing information between each other. Once we had standards in place to make the internet accessible for all, the entire world started to wrap their minds around the World Wide Web, kicking off the dotcom era that fostered Amazon and Google.
This is the level of standardization that we need for ZK cryptography, as we move fully into the web3 era.
NIST has collaborated with the ZKProof initiative since 2019, as a way of supporting the development of open reference material on zero-knowledge proofs. The agency’s research team is also setting guidelines around what ZKPs can and cannot be used for. For instance, ZKPs are ideal for proving the identity of a person without revealing anything else about them, but they aren’t suitable for opinions. They can only be used for verifiable statements.
The team is also maintaining a community reference with relevant terms, examples, and recommendations, to help bring ZK down to earth for anyone who wants to study this transformative technology.
Looking forward to 2025 and beyond
Formal standards will accelerate enterprise adoption of ZK technology by reducing risk and fostering interoperability. Early adopters like Horizen Labs are laying the groundwork for this transition, creating a foundation for larger companies to build on.
With standards paving the way, zero-knowledge proofs could become the backbone of a more private, secure, and interoperable digital future. By participating in NIST’s standardization efforts, the cryptographic community can ensure ZKP technology is ready to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving, AI-driven world. This is our chance to define not just the future of web3, but the future of trust itself.
