By On 22nd October 2019, Tezos (XTZ), a leading proof-of-stake blockchain protocol that supports smart contracts and the deployment of decentralized applications, confirmed that zk-SNARKs is the next protocol amendment on the platform.
zk-SNARKs will reportedly be added to the protocol following the recent activation of the Babylon amendment. It will make it possible for the Tezos platform to provide solutions to new users, including commercial and central banks.
The new improvement will provide the network with ‘fine-tuned privacy’ which is of great importance in expanding Tezos’ usability.
The official report also explained that the upgrade would include a new Michelson instruction that allows a smart contract to store and do a transaction on a secured blockchain.
zk-SNARKs have been a vital feature of Zcash (ZEC), a prominent privacy coin in the crypto market.
Tezos Adds Privacy Features
The zk-SNARKs cryptography feature allows users to prove certain information without having to reveal it to another party. In this way, it is possible to prove a statement without the requirement to disclose the info itself.
The objective is not to make Tezos a 100% privacy coin, but to allow users to make transactions privately and handle their own regulatory concerns.
Marc Beunardeau, Nomadic Labs core developer, stated:
“The intent is not to make Tezos a privacy coin, but rather to give the user the liberty to exchange privately while letting him handle its own regulatory issues.”
The Bank of France’s Interest in Tezos
The new Zero-Knowledge cryptography will permit large-scale organizations, including the Bank of France, to use the Tezos protocol at a commercial level.
Thierry Bedoin, the CDO of the Bank of France, shared in a recent tweet that they had developed a full private node of Tezos. However, the bank noted that they wouldn’t fully deploy protocols without using fine-tuned privacy.
This is why the addition of zk-SNARKs is of immense significance not only for Tezos but also for the entire ecosystem.
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