From PROVE to Decentralized ZK Computation: The Technical Revolution of Succinct Network

In a world of Decentralization, verifiability is the foundation of building trust. Although ZK proof technology is powerful, it is limited by high costs and latency. The PROVE architecture proposed by Succinct Network aims to address this core issue.

Why do we need PROVE?

ZK proof generation is a high-intensity computational process that has high requirements for GPU, memory, and algorithms. In the past, due to the lack of a coordination mechanism, application teams either chose centralized service providers or built complex infrastructure themselves. PROVE offers a unified, freely market-oriented solution that automatically distributes proof tasks to the best provers around the world.

Proof Contest: The technical pillar of PROVE

Proof Contest is a full-payment auction system, with the following specific process:

The user submits a request and sets the maximum fee and time.
Prover nodes participate in “deposit-based auctions,” with multiple parties bidding simultaneously;
The winner is responsible for generating ZK proof, while the fees from other nodes are used for incentives and refunds;
If the winner fails to complete the task, their deposit will be forfeited.

This mechanism embeds decentralization trade-off logic in the bidding process, so that even if a prover has a cost advantage, it cannot monopolize the proof tasks in the long term.

Five major advantages compared to traditional models

1. High throughput: Effectively avoid multiple nodes from generating the same proof, improving overall network efficiency.
2. Anti-witch attack: Prevent node identity split to cheat rewards through deposit and identity binding mechanism;
3. Strong scalability: Any hardware owner can participate, greatly releasing global computing power;
4. Price Transparency: All quotes are completed on-chain, making it easier for users to estimate costs.
5. Mechanism against manipulation: Built-in randomness and parameter adjustment space to prevent price manipulation and centralization.

Key application scenarios of PROVE

ZK Rollup Chain: Improve L2 verification efficiency;
Multi-chain interoperability: Cross-chain bridges require no trusted intermediaries;
ZK AI Verification: Verify whether the output of the AI model is real;
ZK Authentication: An ID system that balances confidentiality and credibility.
Decentralized Cloud Computing: Providing Trusted Execution Proofs While Running Computations.

Collaboration between Succinct Network and zkVM SP1

The entire PROVE mechanism relies on zkVM SP1, a zero-knowledge virtual machine that supports the RISC-V instruction set, allowing developers to directly convert Rust programs into a verifiable format. This tight integration brings several benefits:

Lower the threshold for application integration;
Every upgrade of SP1 benefits the entire network;
Prevent proof duplication and cheating.

Through the collaboration with SP1, PROVE is not just a system for distributing proof tasks, but a continuously evolving ZK infrastructure.