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ZK Proof System Families Overview¶
Description¶
ZKP systems can be organized by their arithmetic layer (constraint system), information-theoretic model, and cryptographic compiler. The table below maps the major families.
| ZKP Family | Arithmetic Layer | Information-Theoretic Model | Cryptographic Compiler |
|---|---|---|---|
| zk-SNARKs (Groth16, Marlin) | R1CS | PIOP (Polynomial IOP) | KZG Polynomial Commitments (EC pairings) |
| zk-STARKs (RISC Zero) | AIR | IOPP (IOP of Proximity) | FRI (Hash functions) |
| Bulletproofs | R1CS | PIOP | IPA (Inner Product Argument) |
| PLONK-based (Halo2, Aztec) | PLONKish | PIOP | IPA or KZG |
| Spartan | R1CS | Sumcheck | Hyrax (multilinear commitments) |
Key Dimensions¶
Trusted setup? - Yes (per-circuit): Groth16, Pinocchio - Yes (universal): PLONK, UltraHonk, gnark - No (transparent): zk-STARKs, Bulletproofs, Spartan, Ligero
Post-quantum? - Yes: zk-STARKs, FRI, Ligero, RISC-Zero - No: All pairing-based (Groth16, PLONK) and DL-based (Bulletproofs)
Proof size (small to large) - Smallest: Groth16 (~192 bytes) - Medium: PLONK (~500 bytes), UltraHonk - Large: Bulletproofs (O(log n)), zk-STARKs (40–200 KB)
Built upon by¶
GMR85-Knowledge-Complexity, Fiat-Shamir, NIZK-Blum
Resources¶
- Explainer: Thaler-Proofs-Arguments-ZK