Startup Bringing Zero-Knowledge Proofs to Ethereum Raises $2 Million

The number of initiatives dedicated to scaling the ethereum blockchain is manifold. Ethereum 2.0, Plasma, Raiden, zk-SNARKs – the list goes on.

On Monday, blockchain research and development startup Matter Labs announced a $2 million seed round led by Placeholder VC to develop a new scaling initiative atop the ethereum blockchain.

Speaking to the goals of the initiative, Matter Labs co-founder Alex Gluchowski said:

“Our product will be much more scalable [than ethereum today] without sacrificing decentralization or security. … You will be able to deposit any funds on it and it will be as safe as depositing on ethereum itself.”

Matter Labs’ technology is based on a novel form of cryptography known as zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). Leveraging this “mathematical magic,” in the words of Gluchowski, transactions on ethereum could be significantly sped up and cheaper to deploy.

“With what we’re building … payments [on ethereum] will be very cheap and have very high throughput,” said Gluchowski. “Not only very cheap but predictively cheap because the bulk of the cost will be coming from [ZKP] computation.”

At the same time, Gluchowski told CoinDesk the research into leveraging ZKPs as a scaling solution on ethereum is still “very early.” At present, Matter Labs has built a prototype of its scalable payments platform and is working towards creating a new minimum viable product over the coming months.

Investor buy-in

A number of other venture capital firms joined Placeholder in the funding round, including 1kx, Dekrypt, Hashed and Dragonfly Capital Partners.

Hashed CEO and managing partner Simon Seojoon Kim told CoinDesk:

“We believe the on-chain data availability and ... scaling solution the Matter Labs team is building will be the integral piece in accelerating the growth of [ethereum’s decentralized finance] space.”

Dekrypt co-founder Howard Wu also added that using ZKPs to wrap “hundreds of thousands of transactions” on ethereum into succinct, verifiable proofs is a “really cool way to try and bring scalability to ethereum.”

Launched officially in December 2018, Matter Labs has also received funding from the Ethereum Foundation, the oldest non-profit dedicated to ethereum protocol development.

Gluchowski said Matter Labs has “received over $100,000 in several different grants” from the Ethereum Foundation over the course of 2019.

Matter Labs R&D Head Alexandr Vlasov image via Medium

DISCLOSURE

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.

Christine Kim

Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.