302: Scaling trustlessness — John from Horizen Labs on ZK, rollups, and verification layers

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Web3 with Sam Kamani

Sam Kamani

323 episodes

3 days ago

"Web 3.0 with Sam Kamani" is all about Web 3 and how it is going to change the world. If you are interested in learning more about the 4th Industrial revolution then this podcast is for you. Web 3.0 or Web 3 is often hailed as the technology that will usher in the 4th industrial revolution. This revolution is going to affect every industry, business, government and person on this planet. Web 3.0 is a collection of technologies that are going to change how we collaborate with each other and interact with our environment. Let's uncover the opportunities and risks of the new version of Web.

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302: Scaling trustlessness — John from Horizen Labs on ZK, rollups, and verification layers

Web3 with Sam Kamani

43 minutes 21 seconds

1 month ago

302: Scaling trustlessness — John from Horizen Labs on ZK, rollups, and verification layers

John, VP of Product at Horizen Labs, breaks down how Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) shift us from “trust” to “zero doubt.” We cover what ZK is (with an intuitive cave/password analogy), why ZK rollups matter, and how ZK Verify aims to be a dedicated, hyper-efficient proof-verification blockchain (think “B2B chain” living behind apps). We discuss tradeoffs (security/decentralization/throughput), SNARKs vs STARKs, real use cases (logins, proof of personhood, high-frequency trading privacy), why some things are over-hyped (prediction markets), and what’s next (mainnet, grants, API tools, and massive proof scalability). If you care about scaling Web3 without sacrificing trustlessness, this one’s for you.

Timestamps

[00:00] John’s path from banking product to ZK & Horizen Labs
[00:03] What Horizen Labs builds; the through-line of ZK across products
[00:05] ZK explained: proving without revealing (the cave & secret door)
[00:08] Why ZK rollups: decongesting Ethereum and lowering gas
[00:10] ZK Verify: a dedicated chain for proof verification (Celestia-style specialization)
[00:13] Product vision: mainnet, throughput, efficiency; exploring more of the ZK stack
[00:14] Who uses it: “B2B blockchain” for high-volume proofs (DEX/HFT, logins, identity)
[00:16] The trilemma still exists; where ZK helps and where tradeoffs remain
[00:18] SNARKs vs STARKs; trusted setups & security nuance
[00:21] Scaling challenges: fast-moving ZK landscape; substrate upgrades; mainstream timing
[00:24] Adoption: UX, stablecoins, institutions, and avoiding another FTX moment
[00:31] “Zero doubt” > “trust”: why ZK removes the need to trust
[00:32] Most over-hyped now? Prediction markets (and a caveat)
[00:36] Roadmap: capacity, aggregation, sample apps, grants, dev onboarding
[00:40] Ask: builders, followers, grant applicants, API users

Connect

https://horizenlabs.io/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/horizenlabs/

https://x.com/horizenlabs

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncamardo/

https://x.com/john_camardo

Disclaimer

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