Can ZK proofs finally be used? What is Succinct Labs up to?

Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) sound impressive, but in reality, most developers can't use them at all - they're too complex, too expensive, and require a specialized Cryptography team. Succinct Labs wants to change this situation.

SP1: Making ZK No Longer the Patent of Cryptographers

The core product is SP1, a general-purpose zkVM. Simply put: you write code normally in Rust or C++, hand it over to SP1, and it automatically generates zk-SNARKs. There's no need to design any “special circuits,” and you don't need to hire a Cryptography PhD; it's just like calling a regular API.

This idea is crucial - transforming from a research tool into a development tool.

Decentralized Proof Network: Proofs Can Also Be Marketized

Succinct also launched a Provider Network, turning proof generation into an open market. Developers submit their requests, and nodes within the network compete to fulfill them, settling with PROVE tokens. The benefits of this approach are:

• Costs have decreased to 1/10 of other zkVMs (GPU optimization is significant)
• No need to maintain expensive proof infrastructure yourself.
• The system automatically diversifies risks

Data Speaks: Real Assets Have Been Protected

We are no longer in the conceptual stage:

• 5 million+ proofs have been generated
• 4 billion dollars of assets are protected by Succinct's proof.
• 35+ ecosystem partners onboarded: Polygon, Celestia, Avail, Mantle, Lido…… these are all top-tier projects

Latest collaborations worth paying attention to:

• OP Succinct: Adding validity proof to optimistic Rollup
• World Chain: Privacy + Verifiable Human Chain
• LayerZero: ZK infrastructure for cross-chain applications

Game Logic of PROVE Token

PROVE is the fuel of the system:

• Developers/Protocols generate payment PROVE for proof
• Provider nodes receive PROVE rewards for contributing computing power
• With the increasing demand for ZK due to DeFi, cross-chain, and AI reasoning, the demand for PROVE will theoretically rise.

Tokens have both practical utility (network consumption) and speculative value (growth expectations).

Why this time is different

The ZK technology itself is very strong, but has always been stuck on “too difficult, too expensive, too specialized.” Succinct's approach is to solve all three problems at once:

1. Reduce Difficulty → SP1 allows ordinary developers to write ZK applications
2. Reduce Costs → Decentralized Network + GPU Optimization, costs decrease by 10 times
3. Lower the threshold → Reduce the deployment time from monthly to daily.

In the long run, if ZK really becomes the standard infrastructure for Web3 (just like APIs and databases on the internet), Succinct will become the core provider of this layer.

The current question is: Can the speed of ecosystem adoption keep up? Can a positive feedback loop be formed (more applications → more demand → more providers → lower costs → more applications)? This is key to determining the long-term value of the PROVE token.