zkTLS Technology: A New Solution to Break Down Data Silos Between Web3 and Web2

Recently, while exploring new project directions, I came across the emerging technology zkTLS. After in-depth research, I have gained some understanding of it, and I would like to整理分享 my learning insights.

zkTLS is an innovative technology that combines Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) and TLS (Transport Layer Security). In the Web3 domain, it is primarily used in on-chain virtual machine environments, enabling the verification of the authenticity of off-chain HTTPS data without the need to trust third parties. The authenticity here includes three aspects: the data source indeed comes from a specific HTTPS resource, the returned data has not been tampered with, and the timeliness of the data is guaranteed. Through this cryptographic implementation mechanism, zkTLS gives on-chain smart contracts the ability to reliably access off-chain Web2 HTTPS resources, thereby breaking down data silos.

Introduction to TLS Protocol

TLS (Transport Layer Security) is used to provide encryption, authentication, and data integrity in network communications, ensuring the secure transmission of data between clients and servers. The HTTPS protocol actually builds on HTTP by utilizing TLS to ensure the privacy and integrity of information transmission, and it makes the authenticity of the server verifiable.

The TLS protocol mainly addresses the following issues:

1. Encrypted Communication: Use symmetric encryption to protect data and prevent eavesdropping.
2. Identity Verification: Verify the server's identity through digital certificates issued by third parties to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.
3. Data Integrity: Use HMAC or AEAD to ensure that the data has not been tampered with.

The data exchange process of the TLS protocol is divided into the handshake phase and the data transfer phase. In the handshake phase, the client and server negotiate security parameters and establish an encrypted session. Subsequently, in the data transfer phase, both parties use the session key for encrypted communication.

The Data Access Dilemma in Web3

Although the TLS protocol is widely used in Web2 networks, it presents some challenges for Web3 application development. When on-chain smart contracts wish to access off-chain data, the on-chain virtual machine does not enable the ability to call external data due to data availability issues, in order to ensure the traceability of all data, thereby guaranteeing the security of the consensus mechanism.

To address this issue, a series of oracle projects have emerged, such as Chainlink and Pyth. These projects serve as a relay bridge between on-chain data and off-chain data, breaking the phenomenon of data silos. To ensure the availability of relay data, these oracles generally adopt the PoS consensus mechanism, increasing the cost of malicious behavior for nodes to ensure data authenticity.

However, there are two main issues with the data acquisition solutions based on oracles:

1. High costs: The security of the PoS consensus mechanism is based on the amount of staked funds, which increases maintenance costs. At the same time, there is a large amount of redundant data interaction during the consensus process, further raising data usage costs.
2. Low efficiency: The consensus of the PoS mechanism requires a certain amount of time, resulting in latency in on-chain data, which is not conducive to high-frequency access scenarios.

zkTLS Solution

The zkTLS technology introduces the ZKP zero-knowledge proof algorithm, enabling on-chain smart contracts to directly verify whether the data provided by nodes indeed comes from a certain HTTPS resource and has not been tampered with. This method avoids the high usage costs associated with traditional oracles due to consensus algorithms.

Specifically, zkTLS is implemented in the following ways:

1. Calculate the data obtained from the HTTPS resource requests to off-chain relay nodes, related CA certificate verification information, temporal proofs, and data integrity proofs to generate a Proof.
2. Maintain necessary verification information and verification algorithms on the chain.
3. Enable smart contracts to verify the authenticity, timeliness, and reliability of data sources without exposing key information.

The advantages of zkTLS lie in significantly reducing the cost of achieving availability for Web2 HTTPS resources. This has sparked many new demands, such as lowering the on-chain price acquisition cost for long-tail assets, utilizing authoritative Web2 websites for on-chain KYC, and optimizing the technical architecture design of Web3 games.

Impact on the Existing Web3 Ecosystem

The emergence of zkTLS has had a certain impact on existing Web3 enterprises, especially mainstream oracle projects. In response to this change, industry giants such as Chainlink and Pyth are actively researching related directions, attempting to maintain their dominant position during the technological iteration process. At the same time, this has also spawned new business models, such as the transition from charging by time to charging by usage, and Compute as a service.

However, like most ZK projects, the main challenge faced by zkTLS is how to reduce computational costs to make it commercially viable.

Overall, zkTLS technology provides a new possibility for data interaction between Web3 and Web2. When designing products, paying attention to the development trends of zkTLS and appropriately integrating this technology stack may bring new breakthroughs in business innovation and technical architecture.