Recently, Ernst & Young released the third iteration of its zero-knowledge proof Ethereum scaling solution. The new set of tools helps in privately managing transactions on the Ethereum blockchain.
Global auditing giant, EY's attempts to promote private transactions over public blockchains at cheaper costs has culminated in the release of Nightfall 3. The firm said that Nightfall 3 combines zero-knowledge proofs with optimistic rollups dubbed zk-Optimistic Rollups, to enhance transaction efficiency on Ethereum.
Well, Nightfall 3 aggregates ZKP transactions into groups, known as rollups. They are called "optimistic" rollups because the system assumes the transactions to be valid unless proven otherwise and removes the process of having all participants verify all transactions.
Now, Nodes that challenge invalid blocks will receive rewards, this is done to ensure that only valid transactions are added to the blockchain. As per EY team, Nightfall 3 brings a significant improvement in transaction efficiency and gas fee reduction.
According to the announcement by making use of ZK-Optimistic Rollups, Nightfall 3 can achieve a price of around 8,200 gas per transaction, while also maintaining privacy. This cost is almost 1/8th of the value needed to make a conventional, public ERC20 token transfer. The latest release also reduces the learning curve needed by developers to implement privacy by giving them a standardized API that appears similar to other token transfer tools.
Dr. Duncan Westland, Head of Global Blockchain Research and Development, EY LLP, said, "When developing a new ZKP protocol, developers need to be able to interact directly with low level ZKP constructs. If the user only requires private token transfers, it’s possible to have the application manage the ZKP interactions. In that case, provided the user is careful about how Layer 1 to Layer 2 transfers are made, a ZKP transaction can be considered a conventional token exchange, albeit with added privacy. Having an API that allows users to work that way can speed up development."
