Horizen Publishes the Darlin: A Proof-Carrying Data Scheme Based on Marlin Whitepaper
Our latest whitepaper describes Darlin, a recursive zk-SNARK that we created to handle the computation of block and epoch proofs in a Latus sidechain.
We are excited to announce the release of Darlin: A Proof-Carrying Data Scheme Based on Marlin Whitepaper. Our latest whitepaper details the proving system used for Zendoo-based interoperable blockchains.
What is Darlin?
In our previous papers, we detailed our scalability protocol, Zendoo, and Latus, the balanced mechanism to incentivize a decentralized system of participants to prove the history of the blockchain using SNARKs.
This paper describes Darlin, a recursive zk-SNARK that Horizen created to handle the computation of block and epoch proofs in a Latus sidechain. Latus is a sidechain construction within Zendoo, which uses recursive proof composition for the generation of a succinct proof of the correctness of the interoperable blockchain’s current state. In this process, the proofs provided for each transaction that happened in the interoperable blockchain are computed recursively by a group of provers. The transactions are then merged to end up with one unique proof for the epoch.
“Darlin is the key to enabling anyone to utilize open ledger technology with zero-knowledge privacy technology to verify information without relying on any third parties while preserving privacy,” stated Alberto Garoffolo, Horizen’s Engineering Director. “Darlin increases the overall performance and usability of Zendoo by increasing the design freedom and flexibility of our system. Being able to fully customize a blockchain down to the epoch is imperative to the creation of a fully inclusive ecosystem.”
Our proving system design for block and epoch proof computations had two key requirements:
- Using rank-one constraint systems (R1CS) to define circuits
- Avoiding the need for a trusted setup, to give Zendoo developers more freedom by allowing them to customize their blockchain’s circuits.
“Darlin is designed to be more efficient and modular than other proving systems in a way that preserves the privacy of user data. We want to enable anybody to build on Zendoo while maintaining the security of data, ” said Rob Viglione, co-founder of Horizen. “Darlin is a part of Zendoo’s foundation that ensures that our ecosystem can be leveraged for any blockchain use case.”
Learn more about Darlin by downloading the proving system whitepaper today.
Related Sources:
Horizen Sidechain Extended Whitepaper: Zendoo: A Zk-SNARK Verifiable
The Latus Incentive Scheme for SNARK-based Interoperable Blockchains
