Boundless, the decentralized zero-knowledge (ZK) compute market powered by RISC Zero, has launched its incentivized testnet (which it’s calling “Mainnet Beta”) on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 community.
With Boundless’ incentivized testnet, builders can construct and take a look at purposes in an setting as if the protocol is in absolutely dwell format. The community has already landed early help from trade heavyweights just like the Ethereum Basis, Wormhole and EigenLayer.
A decentralized market for zero-knowledge compute connects those that want zero-knowledge proofs — corresponding to builders constructing rollups, bridges, or privacy-preserving purposes — with a distributed community of impartial “ZK provers or miners” who generate and confirm these proofs. As an alternative of counting on centralized events, this mannequin permits anybody with the appropriate {hardware} to contribute computing energy and be rewarded for doing that cryptographic work.
Zero-knowledge (ZK) know-how permits events to show {that a} transaction is legitimate with out revealing delicate particulars like identities or quantities. ZK proofs are broadly seen as essential to the following era of privateness and scaling centered blockchain tasks.
The community depends on a Proof of Verifiable Work (PoVW) consensus mechanism. “PoVW is an open proving market the place ZK miners, like establishments and people with high-performance GPUs, are rewarded for efficiently verifying proofs,” the group wrote in a press launch shared with CoinDesk. “In contrast to conventional Proof of Work, miners get rewarded for verification inside a ZK Digital Machine, guaranteeing effectivity, equity, and safety.”
As well as, those that will take part within the incentivized testnet will have the ability to earn early allocations of the community’s forthcoming token, $ZKC, with an airdrop occasion deliberate for later this yr. Rewards are distributed based mostly on the quantity, pace, and complexity of proofs generated.
The group additionally shared that the community’s actual mainnet is deliberate for the third quarter of 2025, with the token going dwell then too.
“Boundless makes blockchains extra scalable by permitting safe, cross-chain computing with out repeating the identical duties. This boosts effectivity, strengthens safety, and lets builders and miners take part throughout totally different ecosystems,” mentioned Shiv Shankar, the CEO of Boundless, within the press launch.
Learn extra: Blockchain Capital Leads $40M Spherical for Crypto Agency RISC Zero
