Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that new cryptographic technologies are essential to support privacy, scalability and security as the complexity of the blockchain ecosystem increases. As blockchains evolve from the simple standalone ledger structures of the past into multilayered networks, he said a shift in the technological paradigm is needed.
Speaking at the Global Blockchain Summit in Shanghai, Buterin assessed that blockchains are developing into broad cryptographic networks encompassing Layer 1s, Layer 2s, mempools, off-chain computation and collaborative structures in which multiple participants jointly create blocks. He also pointed out that the limitations of the privacy-protection model maintained by early public blockchains are becoming increasingly clear amid the rapid advancement of powerful data-analysis tools and artificial intelligence technologies.
Accordingly, he emphasized that succinct non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs, transparent zero-knowledge proofs, fully homomorphic encryption and formal verification technologies that mathematically prove the correctness of programs are emerging as key tools for next-generation blockchains. In particular, he explained that zero-knowledge proof technology has moved beyond the stage of being merely a long-term research topic or roadmap item and is now taking concrete shape at the protocol level through actual Ethereum Improvement Proposals.
He added that artificial intelligence is helping to significantly shorten the time required to develop and verify complex cryptographic systems. His analysis is that blockchain is moving into an era of programmable cryptography, in which access to information can be controlled programmatically, moving beyond the previous approach of simply verifying the authority to transfer assets.