The problem zk-Guard solves

Introduction:

zk Guard addresses the pervasive issue of individuals divulging excessive personal information for identity verification purposes. The platform enables users to provide only the necessary proof without compromising additional details. This innovation enhances privacy, simplifies processes, and fortifies security, fundamentally transforming online services. zk Guard operates on Zero Knowledge technology (snarkjs and Groth16), marking a paradigm shift in data protection.

Motivation

The idea for zk Guard was inspired by Vitalik Buterin's article on Soulbound tokens and on-chain identity, detailed in here. Recognizing the need for improved user privacy and streamlined verification processes, we developed zk Guard to enable users to create their on-chain identity or meet app-specific requirements seamlessly. Unlike other solutions such as Sismo, zk Guard emphasizes ease of use and developer-friendliness. Application developers can integrate zk Guard without the need of redirecting users from the consumer app. Verification is conducted by implementing the read function of verifier contracts, ensuring a smooth and efficient user experience.

Authentication Process:

• Users initiate the Proof generation by validating an anonymized claim pertaining to their exclusive data.
• Utilizing snarkjs and Groth16, a verification process is initiated to generate a proof.
• zk Guard employs smart contracts to validate and tokenize the proof as a non-transferable token (SLT).

Proof Tokenization:

• The generated proofs, now represented as SLTs, embody authenticated claims sanctioned by zk Guard.
• The SLTs are minted on-chain, aligning with the expanding web3 applications ecosystem.
• Badges, in the form of SLTs, signify verified actions within a user's digital identity. For instance, a ZK SLT could confirm a user's attainment of a specific threshold of Twitter followe

Challenges we ran into

The main challenge we faced was generating the zk proofs on the backend server using snarkjs, as we are not that familiar with Zk-SNARKs.