By
Temitope Olatunji
March 7th, 2024
Suterusu, a privacy-preserving blockchain protocol and private sidechain launchpad, has just partnered with IOST – a platform designed to power the Internet of Services.
Through the introduction of a new type of zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) known as zk-ConSNARK, Suterusu hopes to imbue technically disparate blockchains with privacy-preserving features and a heap of new applications.
IOST x Suterusu
As we previously touched on, Suterusu utilizes a new type of zero-knowledge proof, known as zk-ConSNARKs. This innovation can be used to allow the participants in a transaction in complete privacy, and verify the validity of a confidential transaction in a trustless way for the first time.
As a launchpad for interoperable Privacy-Preserving Blockchains, Suterusu allows blockchains of practically any type to addend their existing use-cases with privacy-preserving functions. This promise led to the formation of a partnership between Suterusu and IOST, an ultra-fast blockchain platform designed to deliver the “Internet Of Services.”
According to the announcement, the partnership will see Suterusu build a privacy-enforcing layer-2 sidechain for IOST, which will help to add functions including anonymous payment, confidential transaction, and confidential smart contracts.
The addition of privacy protection to the IOST public chain will massively extend the number of real-world applications the blockchain is suitable for. Among these, IOST believes that the partnership will improve its utility in digital finance, allowing for what it describes as “chain on-chain transfer” – as Suterusu protects the core information of IOST transfers.
Beyond this, IOST hopes the cooperation will improve its smart contract functionality, potentially enabling zero-knowledge identity verification when accessing decentralized applications (Dapps). As such, smart contract users might soon be able to retain complete data privacy when interacting with smart contracts and Dapps.
Commenting on the new partnership, Suterusu CEO Zhengpeng Hou told Coinspeaker, “we hope that through our partnership with IOST, we will be able to grow the Suterusu ecosystem and help make privacy more accessible through our zk-ConSNARK technology.”
As a result of this partnership, IOST will also collaborate with Suterusu to further explore the applications of cryptography and blockchain technology, with the goal of improving blockchain adoption among the wider public.
The Benefits of Suterusu’s zk-ConSNARKs
Unlike the older zk-SNARKs implementation of zero-knowledge proofs used by some mainstream privacy coins like Zcash (ZEC), Suterusu’s zk-ConSNARKs don’t require a process known as a “trusted setup.”
The trusted setup is an event that sees several supposedly trusted parties pre-generate the keys needed as part of the proof validation process. Should this setup by manipulated by one or more bad actors, then it could be possible to generate an unlimited supply of the private cryptocurrency without anybody knowing.
By avoiding the need for a trusted setup, Suterusu’s zk-ConSNARKs essentially remove trust from the equation, allowing users to be sure that the system is free of manipulation. In turn, this produces an ecosystem whereby users are free to privately interact with one another, safe in the knowledge that the integrity of the system is sound.
Beyond this, the zk-ConSNARK method produces small, constant size SNARKs for the first time, which leads to much faster generation and verification times. All in all, by producing small, but constant size proofs, the user experience is improved since verification time is now both faster than previous systems and constant, ensuring users know exactly how long verification will take.
Thanks to its lightweight proofs and massively improved efficiency compared to zk-SNARKs, Suterusu’s solution even enables private smart contracts, enabling new types of decentralized applications where privacy is paramount. To this end, Suterusu also provides the novel Suter virtual machine (SuterVM), which can be used by smart-contract platforms like Ethereum and Tron for launching private Dapps and transferring value across chains via the SUTER token.
Because Suterusu is designed as a platform for launching privacy-enabled sidechains for practically any blockchain, IOST might be just the first of a long list of partners using the technology. As such, Suterusu is a name we might be hearing about more often in the coming months.