ZKSVM Rollup

A general-purpose zero-knowledge rollup built on Solana's SVM (Solana Virtual Machine) for generating and verifying cryptographic proofs on-chain.

Overview

ZKSVM is a research-oriented rollup implementation that leverages Solana's SVM API to create a scalable, proof-generating rollup system. The project focuses on benchmarking zero-knowledge proofs (SNARKs) on SVM as part of ongoing research into efficient blockchain scaling solutions.

Architecture

The rollup consists of two main components:

Rollup Core (rollup_core/)

The core rollup implementation that handles:

• Sequencer: Processes and batches transactions
• RollupDB: Manages account state and transaction storage
• Frontend: HTTP API for transaction submission and retrieval
• Settlement: Handles proof generation and on-chain verification

Rollup Client (rollup_client/)

A client library for interacting with the rollup, providing:

• Transaction submission
• State querying
• Proof verification

Tech Stack

Core Dependencies

• Solana SVM API: solana-svm = "2.0.7"
• Solana Runtime: solana-program-runtime = "2.0.7"
• Solana SDK: solana-sdk = "2.0.7"
• Solana Client: solana-client = "2.0.7"
• Compute Budget: solana-compute-budget = "2.0.7"
• BPF Loader: solana-bpf-loader-program = "2.0.7"

Web Framework

• Actix Web: High-performance async web framework
• Tokio: Async runtime for Rust

Zero-Knowledge Integration

The project integrates with:

• Light Protocol SVM: For advanced zero-knowledge capabilities
• Groth16-Solana: For efficient SNARK proof generation
• Ark-ff: Prime field arithmetic for cryptographic operations
• BN254: Elliptic curve operations for pairing-based cryptography

use crate::errors::Groth16Error;
use ark_ff::PrimeField;
use num_bigint::BigUint;
use solana_bn254::prelude::{
    alt_bn128_addition, 
    alt_bn128_multiplication, 
    alt_bn128_pairing
};

Why ZKSVM Rollup?

Research Objectives

1. SNARK Benchmarking: Evaluate performance of zero-knowledge proofs on SVM
2. Scalability Research: Study efficient rollup architectures for blockchain scaling
3. Proof Generation: Develop optimized proof generation pipelines
4. On-chain Verification: Implement efficient on-chain proof verification

Key Benefits

• General Purpose: Supports arbitrary Solana programs and transactions
• SVM Native: Leverages Solana's battle-tested virtual machine
• Research Platform: Designed for benchmarking and experimentation
• Modular Architecture: Separates concerns between core, client, and proof systems

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+ with Cargo
• Solana CLI tools
• Access to Solana devnet/mainnet

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd zksvm

2. Build the rollup core:

cd rollup_core
cargo build --release

3. Build the rollup client:

cd ../rollup_client
cargo build --release

Running the Rollup

1. Start the rollup core server:

cd rollup_core
cargo run --release

The server will start on http://localhost:8080 with the following endpoints:

• GET /: Health check
• POST /submit_transaction: Submit a transaction to the rollup
• POST /get_transaction: Retrieve transaction status

2. Use the client to interact with the rollup:

cd rollup_client
cargo run --release

API Endpoints

Submit Transaction

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/submit_transaction \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "transaction": "base64_encoded_transaction"
  }'

Get Transaction

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/get_transaction \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "signature": "transaction_signature"
  }'

Development Status

Completed Features

• ✅ Basic rollup architecture with sequencer
• ✅ Solana SVM integration
• ✅ Transaction processing pipeline
• ✅ HTTP API for transaction submission
• ✅ Account state management
• ✅ Crossbeam channels for async communication

In Progress

• 🔄 Zero-knowledge proof generation
• 🔄 Groth16-Solana integration
• 🔄 On-chain proof verification
• 🔄 Performance benchmarking

Planned Features

• 📋 Advanced proof batching
• 📋 Optimistic rollup support
• 📋 Cross-chain bridge integration
• 📋 Comprehensive benchmarking suite

Research Goals

SNARK Benchmarking on SVM

The primary research objective is to benchmark zero-knowledge proof generation and verification on Solana's SVM. This includes:

1. Proof Generation Performance: Measure time and resource usage for SNARK generation
2. Verification Efficiency: Optimize on-chain proof verification
3. Scalability Analysis: Study how proof generation scales with transaction volume
4. Gas Cost Optimization: Minimize on-chain verification costs

Technical Challenges

• Integrating Groth16 proofs with Solana's BPF environment
• Optimizing elliptic curve operations on SVM
• Balancing proof generation time with verification efficiency
• Managing memory constraints in the Solana runtime

Contributing

This is a research project focused on zero-knowledge rollup development. Contributions are welcome in the following areas:

• Zero-knowledge proof optimization
• SVM integration improvements
• Performance benchmarking
• Documentation and examples

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Solana Labs for the SVM API
• Light Protocol for zero-knowledge research
• The broader zero-knowledge and rollup research community

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Note: This is a research implementation and should not be used in production without thorough security audits and testing.