Solana, in collaboration between Light Protocol and Helius Labs, has introduced a new feature named ZK Compression to its blockchain network.
Launched on June 21, this innovation aims to reduce on-chain storage costs by an impressive 99%.
ZK Compression leverages zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to compress on-chain data. This allows developers to store critical data more affordably on Solana’s ledger space without compromising security or performance.
Using sparse state trees, ZK Compression stores a hash of off-chain data on-chain for verification, ensuring data integrity while drastically cutting storage expenses.
According to Light Protocol, ZK Compression can reduce the cost of storing 100 compressed token accounts to approximately 0.0004 SOL, down from the usual 0.2 SOL—an extraordinary 5000x reduction.
Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, highlighted the significant cost reduction and scalability advancements achieved through ZK Compression.
“For large-scale operations like airdrops to a million users, costs could plummet from $260,000 to just $50,” Mumtaz emphasized.
He further explained, “[In summary,] we compress on-chain state to achieve 10,000x scalability improvements and move closer to realizing The Financial Computer — an unstoppable, global, atomic state machine syncing at the speed of light.”
Austin Federa, Solana’s Head of Strategy, echoed the sentiment, noting that the innovation directly addresses the high costs associated with on-chain account storage.
Federa emphasized that ZK Compression offers similar cost-saving benefits for tokens and accounts as cNFTs did for NFTs, paving the way for the development of products that can attract a broader user base to the blockchain.
Several members of the Ethereum community have voiced criticism regarding the new innovation. ZKsync founder Alex Gluchowski shared his thoughts on X:
“The entire foundational premise of Solana being monolithic is now gone all at once. Quite impressive. Meanwhile, ZKsync has quietly been developing an asynchronously composable ZK future for Ethereum. Big reveal this week.”
Ryan Berckmans, an Ethereum investor, criticized the announcement for not categorizing the new approach as a Layer 2 network, labeling it “unethical BS” in an X post.
“Their new product is essentially an L2. L2s are a proven model,” Berckmans asserted.
Similarly, other members of the crypto community, including Adam Cochran, argued that Solana’s compression tool functions similarly to an L2 solution, despite how its developers present it.
Adam Cochran commented, “One day the Solana community will realize they’ve essentially built a solid L2 feature with validity-based rollup, not a monolithic chain.”
In response, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko defended ZK Compression, acknowledging its L2-like characteristics while highlighting its unique attributes.
Unlike traditional L2 networks, ZK Compression operates without needing a security council multisig, chain ID switching, a governance token, or an external sequencer.
“Solana validators still retain all transaction fees. It’s akin to an L2 solution without the common drawbacks that people often criticize about L2s,” Anatoly explained.