zkVerify blog

zkVerify Q1 2025: A Recap of Major Milestones, Upgrades, and Community Growth

a black background with a green logo on it and the words `` zk verify q1 2025 report '' .

zkVerify started 2025 by diving right in—shipping technical breakthroughs, expanding integrations, growing our developer ecosystem, and showing up strong at global events like ETHDenver. From faster proof verification to new tokenomics and a thriving testnet, here’s everything we accomplished in Q1.

TL;DR – Highlights from Q1:

a poster showing the numbers of zk verify by the numbers .
  • Tech Upgrades: Node Release 0.8.0 & Runtime Upgrade 0.11.0 brought faster verification (up to 100%) and lower gas costs.
  • Block Explorer: Subscan-powered zkVerify explorer went live for seamless on-chain visibility.
  • Tokenomics Launched: Introducing staking, governance, and a permissionless ZKP verification economy.
  • Hackathon Energy: Nearly 50 ZK-focused projects submitted across zkVerify, Open Campus, and Arbitrum tracks at our Online Hackathon.
  • ETHDenver Presence: zkVerify sponsored ETHDenver with a booth and joining the official hackathon, with multiple team members speaking at events.
  • Incentivized Testnet Phase 2: Launched with 70k+ users and a leaderboard-driven dev campaign.
  • New Integrations: Partnered with Arbitrum, Fermah, Mimir Multisig, and joined the ZkBoost Consortium.
  • In the Media: Featured by Delphi Digital, CryptoSlate, Crypto.News, and on leading Web3 podcasts.

Technical Upgrades

Node Release 0.8.0 and Runtime Upgrade 0.10.0

  • Native Rust verifiers (Risc0 & Ultraplonk) ported to WASM for modular support
  • Broader compatibility:
    • Risc0: v1.2 (also v1.1 & v1.3)
    • Ultraplonk: v1.0.0-beta1 & earlier
  • Reduced gas for Groth16 & Fflonk proofs using pre-registered keys
  • Bug fix with help from the Talisman team

Learn more about this upgrade here.

Runtime Upgrade 0.11.0 Released

This upgrade boosted proof verification speeds:

  • Risc0: 40% faster
  • Ultraplonk: 100% faster. No node update needed—Node Acceleration pushed cryptographic ops to the node layer, improving latency and throughput.

Learn more here.

New Subscan zkVerify Block Explorer

In Q1 we announced that our new Block Explorer, built in collaboration with Subscan went live. This high-precision Web3 explorer is designed for speed, accuracy, and a seamless user experience.

Check it out here!

zkVerify Tokenomics Overview

tokenomics for zk verify the essential verification platform

In Q1 zkVerify introduced its tokenomics model, positioning the zkVerify token as a key enabler of decentralized, permissionless zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) verification across Web2 and Web3 ecosystems. The token supports staking, governance, and protocol incentives, ensuring secure and scalable proof validation.

Key Highlights:

  • Core Utility: Powers permissionless ZKP verification, validator incentives, and decentralized governance.
  • Staking Model: Based on Nominated Proof of Stake with an initial 3% inflation rate, dynamically adjusted to encourage participation.
  • Governance: DAO-led (Cayman-domiciled), using Substrate OpenGov features; transitioning to full decentralization over three years.
  • Token Distribution:
    • 1B tokens at genesis, allocated to Community (35%), Foundation (31.375%), Core Contributors (19.625%), and Investors (14%).
    • Unlock schedules designed for transparency and long-term sustainability.

zkVerify is poised to become the backbone of ZKP-driven applications in Web2 and Web3 ecosystems. With its cost-effective, scalable, and interoperable platform, zkVerify enables the widespread adoption of privacy-preserving and trust-enhancing technologies.

Read our full blog post on zkVerify Tokenomics here.

Hackathons

Earlier in Q1, in collaboration with Open Campus and Arbitrum we hosted an online hackathon event, which saw nearly 50 projects submitted!

Developers with experience in building ZK and Web3 dApps joined the hackathon to create innovative and impactful web3 projects on Open Campus and Arbitrum with advanced ZK proofs using zkVerify’s public, permissionless ZK proof verification system.

Out of the 50 projects submitted, we had 14 winning projects across 5 tracks, let’s check them out:

Huge thank you to all of the builders and developers that joined, keep an eye out for future online hackathon events!

ETHDenver Hackathon Winning Projects

  • zkHotdog focused on measuring anything anywhere, with cryptographic proofs! Essentially, how do you verify real-world measurements without revealing sensitive data? This project worked to solve that problem, learn more here.
  • InfoFi worked on price discovery of information, such as ML datasets, building towards an intersection of DeFi, AI, and Data. Data vendors can use this service to upload their data to a private database while earning payments. Learn more on Devfolio here.

ETHDenver

We had an amazing time supporting zero-knowledge innovation at ETHDenver!

  • Hackathon Sponsor: Sponsored the official hackathon—8 projects used zkVerify, with 2 winning prizes. Huge shoutout to all the builders!
  • Privacyville Booth: Connected with hundreds over 3.5 days—sharing tech deep-dives, roadmap previews, and ZK insights.
  • Talks Around Town: Our team spoke at multiple side events on ZK scaling, proof verification, and decentralized privacy.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, built with us, or joined a session!

a group of people are sitting at tables in front of a stage at a conference .


Speaking Engagements

Throughout ETHDenver, the Team took the stage at several side events to discuss what we are building at zkVerify:

  • Horizen Labs’ CTO Zain Cheng spoke at House of ZK’s event regarding ZK for Privacy!
  • zkVerify Developer Growth Lead Rolf Versluis presented to the ETHDenver hackathon builders about what zkVerify is and how to get started with our developer tasks! He also spoke at House of ZK’s event about the same topic.
  • Horizen Labs’ CEO Rob Viglione took the stage at The Tie’s Innovate Denver event where he spoke about how enterprises will move on-chain!

In summary, once the event ended we asked a few team members to summarize their main takeaways from the event, in no particular order, here’s what they had to say:

General ETHDenver 2025 Impressions

  • AI Everywhere: AI dominated across Web3 and ZK projects.
  • L1 Comeback: Layer 1s saw renewed interest and funding.
  • Community Vibes: More authentic and grassroots than corporate events like Token2049.
  • Packed Venues: High foot traffic and busy booths despite mixed online sentiment.
  • Brand Growth: Many attendees recognized zkVerify and Horizen.

Hackathon Takeaways

  • High Interest, Low Experience: Devs were excited about ZK but new to proof building.
  • Smooth Dev Experience: zkVerifyJS was praised for its simplicity.
  • Hot Themes: AI + ZK + Privacy was a popular combo.

ZK & Privacy Trends

  • ZK Goes Mainstream: Nearly every project includes ZK now.
  • Proof Generation = Bottleneck: Verification is easy, generation still tough.
  • Strong Side Events: ZK Day & House of ZK were standout gatherings.

To wrap up the Events section, there were a few other events that the team attended, we’ll drop in some photo memories below!

a group of people are standing next to each other at a conference .
  • zkVerify sponsored the Buidl Here Conference in Puerto Rico, a leading Web3 event for blockchain and cryptocurrency in the area.
  • The zkVerify business development team attended Consensus Hong Kong to meet with partners, both old and new, and exploring new synergies.
  • zkVerify sponsored the zkHack Meetup in Sofia, with the zkHack team, which was a great opportunity for our team to connect with ZK developers and builders. Engineering Lead for zkVerify, Daniele Di Benedetto, and Senior Research Scientist, Tommaso Gagliardoni, presented “Beyond ZK, FHE & MPC: Introducing Indistinguishability Obfuscation.”
  • Members of the zkVerify Team attended ZK Proof 7 in Sofia, which is a leading cryptography and zk technology-focused event. This allowed for research opportunities to sit in on talks, ask questions, and network with the broader community.

Incentivized Testnet

Developer Tasks

An important technical milestone was achieved this quarter with the successful design and implementation of zkVerify’s first production-grade Plonky2 verifier. This component was developed by Distributed Lab (distributedlab.com), showcasing their expertise in advanced ZK systems and awarding them 100,000 points within the testnet's builder incentive program, which rewards the value and impact of their contribution to the zkVerify ecosystem.

Community Engagement

The launch of the testnet's initial phase was accompanied by a highly successful community engagement campaign hosted on Galxe, attracting over 70,000 community members. The campaign effectively served its purpose of raising awareness and onboarding early users, laying a strong foundation for future growth.

Building momentum on the success of Q1, the next phases of the testnet are designed to deepen engagement and foster further development:

  • Public Leaderboard:
    • To enhance transparency and incentivize participation, a public leaderboard will be launched. This will allow all participants (both builders and regular users) to track progress, view rankings based on contributions (like those earned by Distributed Lab), and foster a competitive yet collaborative environment.
  • Additional Quests:
    • Following the initial Galxe campaign, further quests will be introduced. These quests will likely be designed to guide users through more specific testnet functionalities, and encourage deeper exploration of the protocol's features - more details to come!
    • Phase 2 Challenges launch: https://x.com/ZKVProtocol/status/1885355700190109871

Partnerships & Integrations

  • Mimir Multisig: Integrated with Mimir, enabling secure multisig wallets for zkVerify users.
  • ZkBoost Consortium:
    • zkVerify joined the 42-member initiative to standardize ZK proof generation via a unified API.
    • zkVerify brings modular, high-performance ZK verification to support real-world use cases in gaming, DeFi, identity, and data. More here
  • Fermah Integration: Proofs generated on Fermah can now be verified on zkVerify, simplifying ZK infra for developers.
  • Arbitrum Integration:

In the News & Media

Thought Leadership Pieces

Wrapping Up Q1 & Looking Ahead

Q1 was a foundational quarter for zkVerify—one that validated our modular architecture, activated our community, and solidified our place in the zero-knowledge ecosystem. With the incentivized testnet thriving, dev interest spiking, and many use cases becoming real, zkVerify is not just scaling proof verification—we’re scaling ZK adoption itself.

Looking ahead, we're doubling down on performance, partnerships, and public engagement. More dev quests, deeper integrations, and new tools are just around the corner. Whether you're a builder, researcher, or ZK-curious, now’s the time to get involved.

  • New testnet with upgraded tooling
  • Mainnet and TGE preparations
  • Incentivized testnet leaderboard
  • New partnerships and integrations
  • And more

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