A quick look at the entire ZK ecosystem on Farcaster

Through these tools, we can better find a subtle balance between transparency and privacy protection, collective trust and individual freedom.

Author: papajams.eth

Compilation: DeepTechFlow

From the anonymous authors of “The Federalist Papers” laying the foundation for democratic debate, to whistleblowers exposing global injustices (such as WikiLeaks), the practice of using pseudonyms allows people to freely share thoughts and truths without fear of retaliation. Throughout history, Voltaire, Publius, Mark Twain (original name Samuel Clemens), George Eliot (original name Mary Ann Evans), and Satoshi Nakamoto have all promoted the spread of ideas through pseudonyms.

Zero Knowledge (ZK) Proof

Zero-Knowledge Proof (Zero Knowledge Proofs) is a revolutionary encryption technology that allows one party to prove to another party that they possess certain information without disclosing the specific details. For example, you can prove that you meet the age requirements to enter a certain place without showing your complete personal information on your ID card. This technology ensures the verification of crucial facts, such as age, while protecting other private data.

On traditional platforms, users usually need to submit personal data, which is centrally stored on servers and at risk of being leaked or abused. Zero-Knowledge Proofs change this pattern, allowing users to verify credentials or asset ownership without revealing personal information, significantly enhancing privacy protection.

Genesis

Sealcaster is the first zero-knowledge application built on the Farcaster protocol, developed by Big Whale Labs. The development team includes Nikita Kolmogorov (borodutch), Jason Kim, and other members. They use Circom, a programming language designed specifically for zero-knowledge circuit design, to generate proofs that allow users to complete identity verification without revealing personal information. Through Circom’s constraints and signal mechanism, Sealcaster can protect user privacy while verifying the authenticity of their credentials.

Sealcaster is one of the many zero-knowledge products launched by Big Whale Labs, and other products include:

SealCred: A platform that allows users to mint zk-Non-fungible Tokens based on Non-fungible Tokens and email ownership.

SealCred Echo: A tool that allows users to anonymously publish content on Twitter with verification credentials.

Ketl: a tool for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to communicate anonymously.

As one of the first practical applications of the Farcaster protocol, Sealcaster demonstrates the enormous potential of privacy protection and verifiable communication on the Decentralization platform.

Superanon

With the continuous development of the Farcaster community, a sophisticated user client called supercast (developed by its founder woj and later renamed super) has gradually formed a user group and gave birth to superanon.

supercast is a client that currently requires payment and is mainly targeted at advanced users. It supports publishing content from multiple accounts and allows users to perform anonymous operations using superanon.

ANON

In the Farcaster community, the AI-driven Token Launcher CLANKER has facilitated the creation of over 10,000 Tokens, with a cumulative volume of $1 billion and has paid out millions of dollars to creators. One day, a superanon user anonymously created a Token called $ANON using CLANKER while woj was sleeping, demonstrating the feature of permissionless operation.

When woj woke up, he officially launched the $anon Token as a supporting tool for the superanon account, and distributed the donated $ANON to all supercast users through Airdrop.

Later, the developer slokh (who previously developed the nook client) built a platform called anoncast.org, allowing users to anonymously publish content if they have $ANON.

The platform combines Noir and Rust technologies, and its Open Source code attracts many developers for iteration and experimentation, opening up new possibilities for the future of the anonymous Social Web.

In addition to continuous feature updates and optimizations, such as allowing users to reveal themselves as the authors of a popular piece of content at a later time, Farcaster’s features have also attracted many well-known users, including Vitalik and Jesse Pollack. It is worth mentioning that 0xLuo is the creator of the feature on the right.

33Bits

33bits.xyz is an experimental platform, whose usage is limited to users with FID numbers below 20,000, i.e. early users of Farcaster. The tool was built by developers Kugusha and Sergey. To expand the access, they subsequently launched 66bits.xyz, which not only provides usage rights to more users, but also adds additional functionality for Tokenholder.

Rumours

rumourcast.xyz, developed by Disky and Leovido, is a client based on the Farcaster protocol. It is built upon the popular Anon Cast but incorporates some unique innovative designs.

(see here)

As long as the user holds enough Token to support, they can publish content anonymously as an account. Future development plans include:

Frames V2 Integration: Enhance user interaction experience by creating unique frame features.

Non-fungible Token mint: Support minting rumor content into collectible Non-fungible Token, and possibly combine with prediction market functionality to add more interactivity and value to the content.

Rumor AI agent: through AI technology, expand and optimize the content of rumors, adding more depth and creativity to each release.

The iteration of these features is ongoing and worth looking forward to in the future.

Pseudonymous Economy

The comprehensive shift to a fully financialized nomenclature framework may overlook the complexity of human social interaction. However, the real potential lies not in absolute anonymity, but in constructing diverse and complex identity models.

These online and on-chain social experiments provide users with a unique space. Here, individuals can build reputation, share insights, and collaborate without exposing their true identities, thereby alleviating the pressure of personal information exposure.

Although full anonymity mode is difficult to support complex social or governance structures, these verified digital identity models offer new possibilities. These identities can be trusted and used across platforms while protecting personal privacy. They pave the way for a voluntary, flexible and mobile online social environment, and redefine the power dynamics of online communication.

Through these tools, we can better find a subtle balance between transparency and privacy protection, collective trust and individual freedom.

“Behind this mask, there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea… and ideas are bulletproof.” - Alan Moore, “V for Vendetta”