Introduction

ZKPs are slow and expensive to produce due to a large number of expensive math operations.

ZKP usage

ZKPs allow a third party provider to also output a proof of computational integrity which guarantees the output you received is correct.

ZKPs allow you to selectively hide some or all inputs around a computational statement.

ZKP is generated like below:

The computation in proof generation mostly reside in:

MSMs: Multiplications over large vectors of numbers (field or group elements), specifically variable-base and fixed-base multi-scalar multiplications
- Typically 70% time
- Vector of 2e25 elements
- Can be parallel but still slow with hundereds of cores
FFTs: Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs) and Inverse FFTs
- Typically 30% time
- Data shuffling
- Not suitable for computing cluster and need much bandwidth

Mining Market:

GPU is the best option from the developer’s perspective, as programming friendliness is very important in industry’s early stage and there are more than 2 million GPU developers worldwide.
In the case when cost & power is more important, FPGA is the best option.
Once the ZKP mining industry really emerges, ASIC will prevail, just like bitmain’s product.