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zkPass whitepaper
zkPass whitepaper

zkPass: Privacy Data Verification Protocol from Web2 to Web3

The zkPass whitepaper was released by the zkPass team on May 22, 2023, aiming to solve the pain point where users cannot prove to third parties that data originates from a specific website while needing to protect privacy, and is dedicated to bridging the data gap between Web2 and Web3.


The theme of the zkPass whitepaper is “zkPass Protocol: Technical Whitepaper 2.0 Based on TLS, MPC, and ZKP.” Its core feature is the innovative integration of Three-Party Transport Layer Security (3P-TLS), Multi-Party Computation (MPC), and Interactive Zero-Knowledge Proof (IZK) technologies to build the zkTLS protocol, allowing users to verify information from any HTTPS website without revealing raw data. The significance of zkPass is that it brings Web2 private data into Web3, laying the foundation for a verifiable internet and providing privacy-protecting data verification capabilities for decentralized applications.


zkPass’s original intention is to build a “verifiable internet,” enabling users to securely verify their private data without exposing sensitive information. The core viewpoint in the zkPass whitepaper is: by combining 3P-TLS, MPC, and zero-knowledge proof technologies, zkPass can transform Web2 private data into portable, privacy-protecting, and cross-network verifiable cryptographic proofs, thus balancing privacy and data authenticity and achieving trustless data verification.

Interested researchers can access the original zkPass whitepaper. zkPass whitepaper link: https://paper.zkpass.org/tech.pdf

zkPass whitepaper summary

Author: Priya Narayanan
Last updated: 2025-12-06 00:30
The following is a summary of the zkPass whitepaper, expressed in simple terms to help you quickly understand the zkPass whitepaper and gain a clearer understanding of zkPass.

What is zkPass

Friends, imagine that whenever we go online—logging into bank accounts, social media, or shopping sites—we leave behind a lot of personal information. This data is like your “digital ID” or “digital ledger”: extremely important, but also easily leaked or misused. zkPass (project abbreviation: ZKP) is a blockchain project dedicated to solving this problem.

Simply put, zkPass acts as a “privacy data verifier”. Its core function is to let you prove to others that you possess certain information (such as your age, bank balance, or educational background) without actually revealing the sensitive data itself. It’s like having a secret—you can prove you know it, but you don’t have to say what it is.

zkPass’s target users are very broad: anyone or any application needing to verify data authenticity without exposing privacy can use it. Typical use cases include:

  • Digital identity verification (KYC): In the Web3 world, you need to prove who you are, but don’t want to upload your ID photo, address, etc. everywhere. zkPass lets you prove you meet certain identity requirements without exposing these details.
  • Decentralized Finance (DeFi): For example, you want to apply for a loan and need to prove your credit or asset status, but don’t want the platform to see all your transaction records. zkPass can help you generate a “I meet the loan criteria” proof without showing specific numbers.
  • Healthcare: Prove your health records or vaccination status without disclosing specific medical details.
  • Gaming and social: Prove your gaming achievements or the authenticity of your social media accounts, while protecting personal privacy.

The typical usage flow is: users obtain data from a trusted HTTPS website (such as your bank’s site) on their own device, then use zkPass to generate a “zero-knowledge proof”. This proof contains only the “fact” you want to verify, not the original data. Finally, you can share this proof with a third party that needs verification; by verifying the proof, the third party can confirm your claim is true, but still won’t know your original data.

Project Vision and Value Proposition

zkPass’s vision is to build a “Verifiable Internet”, serving as a bridge between Web2 (the internet we commonly use now) and Web3 (the decentralized internet).

The core problem it aims to solve is: in the traditional internet world, verifying information usually requires handing over raw data to a third party, which leads to serious privacy leakage and data misuse risks. For example, when you submit an ID photo to a website, that site now holds your ID info, which could be exposed to hackers or misused by insiders.

zkPass’s value proposition is that it offers a brand-new way to prove data authenticity “without exposing the data itself”. It’s like proving you own a house without giving someone your house key.

Compared to similar projects, zkPass’s unique feature is its ability to obtain data and generate proofs from “any HTTPS website”. This means it doesn’t require special website integration, API keys, or reliance on centralized intermediaries. By combining multiple advanced cryptographic technologies, users can generate proofs locally on their devices, maximizing privacy protection.

Technical Features

zkPass’s capabilities are powered by several cutting-edge technologies—its “secret weapons”:

  • Three-Party Transport Layer Security Protocol (3P-TLS)

    When we browse the web, the “HTTPS” prefix stands for “Transport Layer Security” (TLS), which ensures encrypted and secure data transmission between you and the website. zkPass upgrades this by introducing the “Three-Party Transport Layer Security Protocol” (3P-TLS). It adds decentralized “multi-party computation nodes” to the traditional two-party (you and the website) communication, making the data acquisition process more secure and trustworthy.

  • Multi-Party Computation (MPC)

    Multi-Party Computation (MPC) is a remarkable cryptographic technology that allows multiple participants to jointly perform a computation without revealing their private data. Imagine several people want to know their average salary, but no one wants to disclose their own. MPC lets them compute the average without revealing individual salaries. In zkPass, MPC nodes play a key role in data verification, helping ensure data integrity and authenticity, preventing tampering, while remaining unable to access your raw data.

  • Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP)

    Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) is the core of zkPass. Its principle is that a prover can convince a verifier that a statement is true without revealing anything beyond the statement itself. It’s like showing your passport to customs: the officer confirms you’re a legitimate traveler, but doesn’t need to know all your personal details. zkPass uses a “hybrid zero-knowledge proof system” (Hybrid ZK), including VOLE-ZK and zk-SNARKs algorithms. This system is highly efficient, can quickly generate proofs in the user’s browser, and uses minimal memory.

Together, these technologies form zkPass’s “TransGate” product—a foundational tool that securely bridges private data from the Web2 world to Web3. zkPass’s technical features also include: privacy protection, data verifiability, broad compatibility with HTTPS sites, anti-cheating mechanisms, and efficient memory usage.

Tokenomics

The native token of the zkPass project is ZKP, issued under the ERC-20 standard, with a total supply of 1 billion.

The ZKP token plays multiple roles in the zkPass ecosystem, serving as the system’s “fuel” and “incentive”:

  • Settlement medium: Generating and verifying proofs in the zkPass protocol requires ZKP tokens for settlement.
  • Validator staking: Validators participating in network operations must stake ZKP tokens to ensure correct behavior and network stability.
  • Network credits: ZKP tokens are also used to record and reward contributions to the network.
  • Service access: Enterprises and developers wishing to use zkPass’s zero-knowledge verification API and privacy data infrastructure need ZKP tokens.
  • Governance: ZKP token holders will be able to participate in the project’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance, voting on the project’s future direction, fund allocation, and other key matters.

ZKP token allocation plan:

  • Community: 48.5%. Of this, 12.5% unlocks at the Token Generation Event (TGE), 6% unlocks linearly over the first 3 months, and the remaining 30% unlocks monthly over the next 5 years. These tokens are mainly for ecosystem development, airdrops, network incentives, community sales, and strategic partnerships.
  • Early investors: 22.5%. Unlocks linearly over 18 months after a 12-month lockup.
  • Core contributors: 14%. Unlocks linearly over 24 months after a 24-month lockup.
  • DAO treasury: 10%. Unlocks linearly over 5 years.
  • Liquidity: 5%. 100% unlocked at TGE, used to provide market liquidity.

Note: The above tokenomics model is based on the initial design and may be adjusted in the future according to DAO governance decisions.

Team, Governance, and Funding

  • Team

    The zkPass project was founded in 2022. Core team members include co-founder and CEO Bing Jiang, and co-founder and CTO Joshua Peng. Bing Jiang has extensive experience in mobile development and distributed technologies, having led development and management of several core products. Joshua Peng holds a PhD in structural engineering and computing from the University of Missouri. As of now, the zkPass team has 26 employees and plans to continue hiring in engineering, marketing, and business development.

  • Governance

    zkPass plans to implement community governance through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This means ZKP token holders will be able to participate in project decisions, including proposals and voting on treasury fund allocation and incentive mechanisms, jointly driving project development.

  • Funding

    The zkPass project has completed multiple funding rounds, raising a total of $15 million.

    • Seed round: In August 2023, raised $2.5 million, with investors including Binance Labs, Sequoia China, and OKX Ventures.
    • Series A: October 2024 (actually completed in May), raised $12.5 million. This round had no lead investor, but was jointly participated by dao5, Animoca Brands, Flow Traders, Amber Group, IOBC Capital, Signum Capital, MH Ventures, and WAGMI Ventures.

    The Series A round valued zkPass at a fully diluted token valuation of $100 million.

Roadmap

The zkPass roadmap shows the project’s plan from early R&D to future development:

  • Historical milestones

    • Q1–Q2 2022: Technical architecture design, feasibility analysis, and initial solution testing.
    • Q3–Q4 2022: Built a multi-party zkPass protocol prototype and implemented PLONK19 and TLS 1.2 protocols.
    • Q1–Q2 2023: Further implemented the three-party TLS protocol, expanded the MPC network, and launched the zkPass protocol pre-testnet.
    • Q3–Q4 2023: Enhanced the zkPass decentralized network, launched the Alpha testnet, and released the EVM-compatible zkPass protocol mainnet v1.
  • Key future plans (through 2025)

    • Q1 2025: Focus on core protocol and developer infrastructure, including zkTLS protocol upgrade, zkTLS audit, zkPass SDK v2.0 release, proof user experience toolkit, and DevHub v2.
    • Q2 2025: Expand proof applications and ecosystem.
    • Q3 2025: Focus on governance and institutional pilot projects, such as zero-knowledge compliance suite, enterprise-level pilots with banks and healthcare institutions, and national cooperation plans based on zero-knowledge verifiable credentials.
    • Q4 2025: Plan for Token Generation Event (TGE) and network maturation, activate all ZKP token functions, expand governance mechanisms, and scale the network to support broader user and enterprise adoption.

    Notably, the ZKP token was listed on multiple exchanges around December 19, 2025.

Common Risk Reminders

All blockchain projects carry risks, and zkPass is no exception. As you learn about the project, it’s important to be aware of potential risks:

  • Technical and Security Risks

    • Computational complexity: Zero-knowledge proof computations are relatively complex, which may affect efficiency and cost.
    • Smart contract vulnerabilities: Blockchain projects rely on smart contracts, which may have unknown bugs or flaws. If exploited, these could lead to loss of funds or system failures.
    • Irreversibility of transactions: Once submitted, blockchain transactions are usually irreversible, meaning errors or attacks are hard to recover from.
    • Third-party data source dependency: zkPass relies on HTTPS websites as data sources; the availability, accuracy, and reliability of these sites may affect zkPass service quality.
    • Security audits and node operation: As a complex system, zkPass requires ongoing security audits and robust node operation to ensure reliability and trust in proof generation.
  • Economic Risks

    • Market volatility: Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile; ZKP token prices may be affected by market sentiment, macroeconomic factors, and project progress.
    • Adoption and trust: Widespread adoption of zkPass depends on enterprise integration and user trust in cryptographic proofs. The shift from Web2 data silos to decentralized verification may take time.
    • Token unlocking and dilution: A significant portion of ZKP tokens will be gradually released to the market over time, which may cause short-term selling pressure and dilution risk.
    • Insufficient liquidity: Early in the token’s listing, market liquidity may be insufficient, leading to large price swings.
  • Compliance and Operational Risks

    • Legal and regulatory uncertainty: The legal status of blockchain and zero-knowledge proof technology is still unclear globally. Regulatory policies may change, potentially impacting zkPass operations.
    • User experience and interoperability: Adoption of new technology requires good user experience and seamless integration with other systems, which is crucial for zkPass’s popularity.
    • Privacy vs. traceability balance: While protecting privacy, achieving necessary traceability in certain scenarios (such as crime prevention) is a challenge that requires careful balance.
    • User responsibility: Users are responsible for managing their private keys, devices, and generated proofs. Once a user voluntarily discloses a proof to a third party, zkPass cannot control its subsequent use.

Verification Checklist

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the zkPass project, you can further verify and research through the following channels:

  • Block explorer contract addresses:
    • Ethereum Mainnet:
      0xe1be424f442d0687129128c6c38aace44f8c8dbc
    • BNB Smart Chain (BSC):
      0xd89B7dD376E671c124352267516BEF1C2cc231a3

    Through these addresses, you can view ZKP token holder distribution, transaction records, and other information on the respective block explorers.

  • GitHub activity:

    The zkPass official website provides a GitHub repository link. Check code commit frequency, number of contributors, and issue resolution to get a preliminary sense of project development activity and transparency.

  • Official whitepaper and documentation:

    Carefully read zkPass’s official whitepaper and technical documentation to understand its technical details, design philosophy, and future plans.

  • Community forums and social media:

    Follow zkPass’s official accounts and community discussions on Reddit, X (formerly Twitter), and other social media platforms to learn about community opinions, project updates, and team-community interactions.

Project Summary

zkPass is a highly promising blockchain project that aims to solve data privacy and verification pain points in both Web2 and Web3 by combining advanced cryptographic technologies such as Three-Party Transport Layer Security (3P-TLS), Multi-Party Computation (MPC), and Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP). It enables users to prove data authenticity to third parties without exposing sensitive personal information, offering huge application potential in digital identity, decentralized finance, healthcare, and more.

zkPass’s innovation lies in its unique zkTLS protocol, which can generate verifiable privacy proofs from any HTTPS website without relying on OAuth, API keys, or centralized intermediaries. The ZKP token, as the ecosystem’s core, serves multiple functions—settlement, staking, incentives, and governance—aiming to build a self-sustaining trust economy.

However, as an emerging blockchain project, zkPass also faces risks such as technical complexity, market adoption, regulatory uncertainty, and tokenomics volatility. Despite investment from well-known institutions and a clear roadmap, its long-term success will depend on technical execution, community building, and market acceptance.

Remember, the above information is only an introduction and analysis of the zkPass project and does not constitute investment advice. Please conduct thorough independent research and risk assessment before making any investment decisions. For more details, please research on your own.

Disclaimer: The above interpretations are the author's personal opinions. Please verify the accuracy of all information independently. These interpretations do not represent the platform's views and are not intended as investment advice. For more details about the project, please refer to its whitepaper.

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