Skip to content

Home > Proof Systems > GMR85-Knowledge-Complexity

The Knowledge Complexity of Interactive Proof Systems

Description

The seminal paper that laid the theoretical bedrock for the entire ZKP field. It redefined a "proof" as an interactive game and formally defined knowledge complexity and the three pillars of ZKPs: completeness, soundness, and zero-knowledge. It proved that proofs could be both interactive and probabilistic — a paradigm shift in computer science.

Technical Characteristics

Complexity: - Prover: Polynomial - Verifier: Polynomial - Proof Size: Interactive (multiple rounds) - Setup: transparent

Security: - Assumption: information-theoretic (for some instances) - Post-quantum: yes (information-theoretic variants) - Basis: Interactive proof model, computational complexity

Dependencies

Based on: Complexity theory, interactive computation Circuit representation:

Applications

Used by: All modern ZKP systems — Fiat-Shamir, NIZK-Blum, Sigma-Protocols-Damgard

Resources