Explainer of the most widely used zero-knowledge proof system
Groth16 is a prominent zero-knowledge proof system that was introduced in 2016. It is known for its succinctness, providing constant-size proofs that are significantly smaller than many other proof systems. However, it requires a trusted setup, which poses certain risks, yet its advantages have led to widespread adoption in various protocols.
- ▪Groth16 is a Succinct Non-interactive Argument of Knowledge (SNARK) with constant-size proofs.
- ▪The proofs generated by Groth16 are only 128 bytes, making them much smaller than those from other proof systems.
- ▪Despite requiring a trusted setup, Groth16 is widely used due to its significant advantages over other systems.
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Groth16, Intuitively David Wong May 01, 2026 21 min read educative zk groth16 Groth16 is the GOAT of zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) systems, remarkable given that it was invented in 2016 (as the name suggests), right at the start of the most impressive decade of breakthroughs in ZKPs. The downside of such a neat and compact scheme is that nobody seems to be able to understand it intuitively. Or at least, if anyone does, they haven't synthesized it for the rest of us! We're hoping to change that by bringing you an intuition-level explanation of the scheme. So read on if you finally want to crack this one open.
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