The Future of Privacy: Selective Disclosure via Programmable Identity Logic

Enables users to aggregate credentials from Web2 & Web3 sources into a single, private ZK Badge. The core innovation is data minimization—proving group membership or reputation without doxxing the source.

• Key Benefit: Composable reputation for sybil-resistant airdrops and governance.
• Key Benefit: Portable identity that works across 20+ L1/L2 chains via its zkConnect protocol.

Provides the full stack for issuers, holders, and verifiers to manage W3C-compliant Verifiable Credentials (VCs) with zero-knowledge proofs. Its circuit library allows for complex business logic in disclosures.

• Key Benefit: Institutional-grade issuance for KYC, credit scores, and diplomas.
• Key Benefit: On-chain verification with ~300ms proof generation, enabling real-time DeFi compliance.

Your on-chain history, Twitter followers, and credit score are trapped in separate fortresses. To use them, you must surrender the raw data, creating permanent privacy leaks and friction.

• Consequence: Oversharing is mandatory for simple proofs of humanity or reputation.
• Consequence: No composability—each dApp rebuilds KYC from scratch, a ~$50/user cost.

Replace data transfer with logic verification. A cryptographic circuit defines the rule (e.g., 'Prove age > 18'), and a ZK-SNARK generates a proof of compliance without revealing the birth date. This is the computational layer for trust.

• Key Benefit: Selective Disclosure: Prove a specific claim, not the entire dataset.
• Key Benefit: Reusable Trust: A single proof can be verified across Ethereum, Arbitrum, zkSync.

Solves sybil resistance at the global scale via biometric iris codes, generating a unique, private ZK-proof of humanity. The Orb hardware ensures one-person-one-ID, while the World ID allows anonymous verification in apps.

• Key Benefit: Global Sybil Resistance for fair airdrops and governance, with ~5M verified humans.
• Key Benefit: Privacy-by-Design: The iris hash is never stored; only the ZK proof is used.

Takes selective disclosure to the application layer. Developers can build private DeFi or voting dApps on Aztec, where all state is encrypted, and users prove compliance via ZK. It's programmable privacy for complex logic.

• Key Benefit: Private State: Balances and transactions are hidden by default.
• Key Benefit: On-Chain Verification: Complex business logic (e.g., 'Prove net worth > $1M for loan') is executed and verified privately.

Global regulators will treat programmable privacy as a loophole, not a feature. Compliance logic will be mandated, creating a permissioned privacy layer that defeats the purpose.

• VASP Onboarding: Every identity protocol becomes a regulated Virtual Asset Service Provider.
• Logic Blacklists: Required integration of government-sanctioned sanction lists into core logic.
• DeFi Exclusion: Protocols like Aave or Compound may reject non-compliant identities, fragmenting liquidity.

Complex ZK circuits and on-chain verification logic introduce catastrophic bugs. A single flaw in a widely-adopted Semaphore or zk-SNARK identity library could deanonymize millions.

• Oracle Manipulation: Proofs relying on external data (e.g., credit scores, KYC status) are vulnerable to Chainlink oracle attacks.
• Logic Griefing: Malicious actors spam the system with valid but useless proofs, clogging networks and increasing costs for all.
• Upgrade Risks: Admin keys for upgradable logic contracts become the ultimate centralization point.

Without critical mass, programmable identity is a ghost town. Major dApps like Uniswap won't integrate until there are users, and users won't come until there are dApps.

• Fragmented Standards: Competing frameworks from Polygon ID, zkSync Era, and Starknet create incompatible identity silos.
• UX Friction: The average user cannot manage key custody and proof generation. Wallet abstractions like Safe{Wallet} add complexity.
• Cost Prohibitive: Generating a ZK proof for a simple action can cost $5+, killing micro-transactions and emerging market use cases.

Selective disclosure creates a richer metadata graph. The mere act of choosing what to reveal—and to which protocol—becomes a powerful fingerprinting tool.

• Graph Analysis: Linking a proof-of-age to Aave and a proof-of-income to Compound creates a comprehensive financial profile.
• Temporal Analysis: The timing and frequency of proof generation reveals behavioral patterns more valuable than the disclosed data itself.
• Centralized Aggregators: Services like Etherscan or Dune Analytics will index and sell this new metadata layer.

Current ZK systems force a false choice: total anonymity or full exposure. This breaks DeFi composability and KYC/AML workflows.\n- Breaks UX: Can't prove specific credentials without revealing entire identity.\n- Kills Liquidity: Private wallets can't interact with regulated DeFi pools.\n- Static: Once a proof is generated, its logic is fixed.

Decouples credential issuance (Attesters) from usage via reusable, programmable ZK Badges. Enables selective disclosure of aggregated reputation.\n- Portable Proofs: Prove you're a Gitcoin donor or ENS holder without linking wallets.\n- Composable Logic: Badges can be combined (e.g., "Prove you hold A AND B").\n- Stateless Verification: Relies on on-chain registries like Ethereum Attestation Service for verification.

Enterprise-grade framework for issuing, holding, and verifying W3C-compliant VCs with built-in revocation. The state is managed off-chain, proofs are on-chain.\n- Issuer Sovereignty: Enterprises control credential schemas and revocation.\n- Holder-Centric: Identity data stays in user's wallet (e.g., iden3 wallet).\n- Interoperable: Built on IETF/JISC standards, not a proprietary system.

Programmable identity logic enables smart contracts and agents to make decisions based on private user attributes. This is the missing layer for intent-based systems.\n- Agent-Based UX: Your wallet agent can shop for rates across UniswapX, CowSwap, and 1inch while proving solvency privately.\n- Dynamic Policies: Access control that adapts (e.g., loan LTV adjusts based on proven, private income stream).\n- The Endpoint: Privacy becomes a feature of the transaction, not the chain.

ZK proofs are cheap to generate but expensive to verify on-chain. This cost scales with logic complexity, threatening granular privacy's viability.\n- Gas Wars: A complex multi-credential proof can cost >500k gas to verify.\n- L2 Dependency: Forces adoption onto specific chains with cheap verification (e.g., zkSync, Starknet).\n- Innovation Tax: Developers must optimize circuits instead of logic.

Networks like =nil; Foundation and Herodotus are building proof aggregation layers. They batch thousands of proofs into one on-chain verification, amortizing cost.\n- Cost Amortization: Reduces per-proof cost by 10-100x.\n- Universal Circuits: Shared verifiers for common operations (e.g., Merkle inclusion).\n- Infrastructure Play: The privacy stack's final layer is a decentralized proving market.