The Solana blockchain network has shown a new ZK Compression capacity working with Light Protocol and Helius Labs. Originally set for June 21, this innovative concept is expected to save an incredible 99% on-chain storage expenses.
XK Using zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, compression compresses on-chain data so developers may save vital information on Solana’s low-cost ledger space without compromising security or performance.
Using sparse state trees, which keep a hash of off-chain data on-chain for validation, the technology guarantees data integrity, hence substantially reducing storage costs.
Light Protocol states that ZK Compression can greatly reduce the cost of storing 100 compressed token accounts to around 0.0004 SOL, a huge departure from the normal 0.2 SOL, 5000x reduction. Major event costs like airdrops to a million users might be cut from $260,000 to only $50,000.
Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz noted the massive scalability increases and cost reductions ZK Compression offers. “We compress on-chain state to achieve 10,000x scale improvements, bringing us one step closer to building The Financial Computer—an unstoppable, worldwide, atomic state machine syncing at the speed of light,” Mumtaz said.
Austin Federa, Head of Strategy at Solana, noted that this innovation addresses the high on-chain account storage costs. For tokens and accounts, he said, ZK Compression offers similar cost-saving benefits as compressed NFTs (cNFTs) provided for non-fungible tokens, hence enabling the growth of companies attracting more users to the blockchain.
Solana’s ZK Compression Sparks Varied Reactions In Crypto Community
The crypto community has responded differently to the new feature. Members of Ethereum have attacked ZK Compression several times. Alex Gluchowski, founder of ZKsync, commented on social media platform X, “The whole monolithic Solana thesis is gone at once.” Excellent. ZKsync has been subtly creating an asynchronously composable ZK future for Ethereum. There will be a grand unveiling this week.
Ethereum investor Ryan Berckmans dubbed Solana “unethical BS” in an X post for failing to classify the new approach as a Layer 2 (L2) network. “Their next gift is L2. L2s are an effective paradigm,” Berckmans remarked. Other crypto community members, like Adam Cochran, concurred with this and noted that Solana’s compression tool is essentially an L2, even if its presentation differs.
One day, the Solana gang will realize their creation is a good L2 feature/validity-based roll-up rather than a monolith chain,” Cochran stated.
Anatoly Yakovenko, a co-founder of Solana, responded by defending ZK Compression and pointing out its special qualities while highlighting its L2-like properties. Unlike traditional L2 networks, ZK Compression does not require a governance token, an external sequencer, a security council multisig, or chain ID swapping.
Solana validators are still paid all transaction fees. Like L2 without everything people criticize L2s for,” Yakovenko stated.
Solana is always developing, but the release of ZK Compression marks a major breakthrough in making blockchain technology more scalable and cost-effective. This prompts debate on its classification and use inside the greater crypto ecosystem.
