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I have been watching these videos:

'Kent Barton & Alex Gluchowski ~ Scaling With Zero Knowledge' https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=aEqhjpjoaEA

Scalable blockchains as data layers | Vitalik Buterin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOm47gBMfg8

After watching this video:

Friday Afternoon - May 10 - Main Stage Session - #EtherealNY2019 https://youtu.be/ccqAoM9AsXs?t=13087

(The chat between John Walpert and Paul Brody from EY).

In the middle of watching the technical video, the following question came to me:

Are the benefits of ZKPs:

a. Enabling private transactions on public blockchains as Paul talks about, and is desirable by enterprises and could facilitate adoption i.e. overcoming a privacy hurdle leading to companies feeling comfortable about using blockchains.

or:

b. "We can prove with Zero Knowledge that the new block is correct and that all the transactions are valid" and "The operator cannot commit any incorrect block on the Mainchain" which is more of a 'technical' hurdle that is being overcome, and would allow Ethereum to scale mathematically.

Or is it both?

Or maybe I'm still misunderstanding something.

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  • ZKP is a cryptographic tool that it has found some applications to blockchains, ie to enable privacy and scalability. ZCash uses it for privacy in production code and there are some PoCs for scalability. I don't thing one use is better than the other, perhaps there will be more use cases in the future.
    – Ismael ♦
    May 29, 2019 at 16:34

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In terms of benefits when brought to a public blockchain:
Present-day businesses can leave some details hidden for certain transactions which is essential in most cases. It allows for anonymity i.e. making transactions without your identity being disclosed or transactions that are not connected, and then there are also benefits related to privacy concerns as you mentioned in a.

The anonymity, privacy and confidentiality features that ZKPs bring to a public blockchain also stimulates advancements in potential use cases to be built on a public blockchain. To name a few: Authentication Systems, Anonymous Verifiable Voting and Private Exchange & Settlement of Digital Assets

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