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RISC Zero’s Boundless Network’s incentive testnet (MainNet Beta) was released on a basis yesterday.
Boundless is not a new blockchain. Boundless is a market for zero-knowledge virtual machine (ZKVM) proofs (also known as the proof market), and can be deployed anywhere on a network to resolve proofs.
Who needs it? Chaining or applications that want to handle heavy calculation-on-chaining, but are inappropriate for existing virtual environments to leverage ZK technology.
Boundless allows teams to do so without making any fundamental changes to their architecture. Just like how ChainLink brought price supplies to each chain, Bandless brings verifiable calculations.
Infinite network
Here’s how your network works roughly:
- Chains/Apps requests and computing tasks are sent to the Bondless Network running auctions on the contract.
- “Provers” (Miner) on an infinite network running CPU/GPUs claim that these jobs perform expensive computation off-chain.
- To accept the task, Provers bets ZKC tokens and locks the proof request. Because these tokens are novel, there is an economic mechanism to keep your work honest.
- When Provers finishes the job, the host chain will be settled with a small, mathematically verifiable Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) receipt.
Verifying small size proofs for Ethereum or rollups is the minimum cost of gas, so the base chain will not feel heat from the underlying calculations, even if that calculation takes a few minutes.
Boundless’ CEO Shiv Shankar reminded me of the banned costs of running a ZK Computation Onchain.
“Now, anyone can do that massive calculation for under $30 using ZKVM. This kind of infinite thinking is what we bring to every chain.
Boundless Explorer shows 363 Active Provers processing jobs today, but the team told me they expect at least 1000 GPUs to be proven soon.
Infinite architecture
Infinite “network-specific” is a self-developed primitive encryption known as “verable proof of work” (POVW).
Traditional proof pays Bitcoin miners for hash and endless ‘povw pays for useful ZKVM cycles.
POVW tags each proof of verifiable metadata pieces (or “work receipts”) as a record of how much each calculation has entered. This allows for infinite payments to hundreds of provers on your network proportionately to actual computing, and detects fraudulent proofs.
This contrasts with a concise off-chain auction bid or a time-based citation used by Kalypso.
Today’s adoption
Early recruits for Boundless include teams such as Eigenlayer, Celestia, Taiko, and Lido.
The team uses an infinite supply of verifiable calculations for a variety of purposes.
For example, Eigenlayer uses infinity to enhance AVS thrashing logic. Celestia uses it to prove the validity of data availability across any chain. TaikoBasedRollup is used as part of a multiprover setup, and Lido leverage uses infinite leverage on ZK-based Staking Oracle.