The cryptocurrency startup Bolt Labs, together with Nomadic Labs and Metastate, is developing the zkChannels protocol for anonymous micropayments on the Tezos blockchain.
According to the developers, zkChannels is a network-independent protocol with which you can make cheap and anonymous transactions between buyers and sellers “in the style of Lightning Network”. The solution is planned to be implemented in the Tezos blockchain next year.
To ensure a high level of confidentiality, data in zkChannel will be stored asymmetrically. For example, when making a payment, the buyer will store all the necessary information about him and see the current distribution of funds.
In this case, the seller will only know the total amount of the transaction, he will not be able to determine the identity of the buyer for the transaction. The seller and the buyer will have different information about the status of the payment channel, which ensures the anonymity of the buyer.
In the future, the developers plan to make zkChannels a link between the Tezos blockchain and the ZEC and BTC cryptocurrencies. In addition, the protocol will ensure the confidentiality of various decentralized applications and allow the creation of a hidden pool of tokens as part of a smart contract.
Co-founder of Bolt Labs, Ayo Akinyele, believes that the Tezos blockchain has all the necessary features to integrate with zkChannel. Thanks to the mechanism of efficient data management, functions can be added to Tezos to support zkChannels without data transfer conflicts.
The Tezos smart contract language ensures that code conforms exactly to its specifications through formal verification. This is especially important when dealing with payments, tokenized assets and loans, as there are guarantees that due to errors in the code, funds will not be lost or frozen.
Recall that last year, the French Finance Committee called for a ban on anonymous transactions with cryptocurrencies because of the high probability of tax evasion, fraud using crypto assets, money laundering or illegal energy consumption.
