# "After ZK-Rollups, What’s the Next Killer App We Should Really Bet On?"

By [Daniel](https://paragraph.com/@-daniel) · 2025-08-13

zk, eth

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ZK is more than just boosting TPS and reducing gas fees—it’s poised to redefine computational trust, privacy, and identity, bridging the AI and crypto worlds to grant individuals unprecedented digital sovereignty.

As the "airdrop season" for leading projects like zkSync and Starknet settles, zero-knowledge (ZK) technology has never been so fervently embraced—and debated—by the community. Millions of wallet addresses are now tangibly linked to this esoteric cryptographic innovation. Yet, amid the noise over valuations, trading volumes, and airdrop rules, are we suffering from "winner’s myopia"? Have we confined ZK’s potential to merely making Ethereum "faster and cheaper"?

While the market remains fixated on the cutthroat competition among Layer 2 solutions, a far grander wave is quietly rising: the convergence of AI and crypto. And ZK is the key technological bridge connecting these two megatrends. This article cuts through the hype around ZK-Rollups to argue that ZK’s ultimate battleground isn’t winning the L2 war—it’s building a _trusted, permissionless, and sovereignty-preserving_ digital reality for the coming AI era.

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### **ZK-Rollups: A Great Beginning, Not the End**

There’s no denying that ZK-Rollups are zero-knowledge proof technology’s most successful commercial application to date. By bundling thousands of transactions off-chain (Layer 2) and submitting a succinct validity proof to the main chain (Layer 1), ZK-Rollups have solved blockchain’s scalability trilemma without compromising security, boosting Ethereum’s throughput by orders of magnitude.

From StarkWare’s StarkNet to Matter Labs’ zkSync, Scroll, and Polygon zkEVM, the technical race has largely centered on EVM compatibility and gas fees. The market has cheered, and capital has voted with its wallet. Yet this prosperity has also bred tunnel vision—we’ve tacitly assumed ZK’s sole purpose is to make transactions faster and cheaper.

But zooming out reveals a deeper truth: confining ZK to scalability _underestimates_ its revolutionary potential. Scaling is the necessary infrastructure, but it’s not the destination. It paves the road, but the true marvel lies in where that road leads.

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### **Beyond Scaling: ZK’s Three High-Potential Frontiers**

When we stop viewing ZK merely as a "compression tool," its essence as a "trust engine" comes into focus. Here are three untapped frontiers that align with crypto’s original ethos:

#### **1\. Verifiable Computation: Reinventing Trust in Data and Compute**

Imagine a complex AI model or financial risk algorithm running on a cloud server. How can it _prove_ its outputs were computed honestly, without manipulation? In Web2, we blindly trust service providers.

ZK changes the game. With zero-knowledge proofs, a compute provider can generate cryptographic proof that it executed a task correctly—without the verifier re-running the entire computation. This isn’t just technical wizardry; it unlocks:

*   **DePIN** (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks): Trustless verification for decentralized compute/storage.
    
*   **DeSci** (Decentralized Science): Transparent validation of research models.
    
*   **Fairer digital ad markets**: Proof that ad metrics aren’t faked.
    

Projects like **Modulus Labs** (ZKML for verifiable AI inference) and **RISC Zero** (zkVM for generalized provable compute) are pioneering this space. When computation becomes trustless, we won’t need centralized intermediaries—a peer-to-peer compute market emerges.

#### **2\. Decentralized Identity (DID) & On-Chain Reputation: Your Web3 Native Passport**

Today, Web3 "identity" is reduced to a wallet address—a crude ledger of assets, devoid of social context or reputation. ZK-DID enables _selective disclosure_:

*   Prove your credit score to a DeFi protocol _without_ exposing assets.
    
*   Verify you’re a unique human in DAO voting _anonymously_.
    
*   Confirm you’re over 18 to a game platform _without_ sharing your ID.
    

This is foundational for a privacy-preserving yet socially rich Web3. **Polygon ID** offers ZK-based identity frameworks, while **zkMe** provides decentralized KYC. Even **Worldcoin** relies on ZK for privacy-preserving "proof-of-personhood." The result? A "soulbound" identity that’s _yours to control_.

#### **3\. True On-Chain Privacy: From Transparency to _Controlled Transparency_**

Ethereum’s transparency ensures auditability but exposes all financial activity. Privacy coins like Zcash showed ZK’s potential, but they’re siloed. The future is _optional privacy_ baked into mainstream smart contracts:

*   Enterprises conducting confidential supply-chain settlements.
    
*   DAOs disbursing anonymous salaries.
    
*   Users making private transfers.
    

**Aztec Network** (private ZK-Rollup for Ethereum) and **Aleo** (privacy-first L1) are leading the charge. The shift isn’t toward opacity but _"controlled transparency"_—data is private by default, with ZK proofs granting selective access (e.g., to auditors).

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### **The Bigger Picture: Digital Sovereignty**

ZK-Rollups’ success is a triumph of "instrumental rationality"—solving urgent pain points. But crypto’s north star is _value rationality_: _What world do we want to build?_

ZK’s ultimate mission is to empower individuals with **digital sovereignty**:

*   Participating in economies _without_ sacrificing privacy.
    
*   Verifying information _without_ relying on centralized gatekeepers.
    
*   Owning our identities and data _mathematically_.
    

So when evaluating ZK projects, ask higher-order questions:

*   Does it make the digital world _more trustworthy_?
    
*   Does it strengthen our control over identity and data?
    
*   Does it advance a fairer, more self-sovereign future?
    

**Betting on ZK isn’t just betting on tech—it’s betting on a vision.** And that vision is far grander than TPS and gas fees.

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*Originally published on [Daniel](https://paragraph.com/@-daniel/after-zk-rollups-whats-the-next-killer-app-we-should-really-bet-on)*
