302: Scaling trustlessness — John from Horizen Labs on ZK, rollups, and verification layers

Web3 with Sam Kamani

John, VP of Product at Horizen Labs, breaks down how Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) shift us from “trust” to “zero doubt.” We cover what ZK is (with an intuitive cave/password analogy), why ZK rollups matter, and how ZK Verify aims to be a dedicated, hyper-efficient proof-verification blockchain (think “B2B chain” living behind apps). We discuss tradeoffs (security/decentralization/throughput), SNARKs vs STARKs, real use cases (logins, proof of personhood, high-frequency trading privacy), why some things are over-hyped (prediction markets), and what’s next (mainnet, grants, API tools, and massive proof scalability). If you care about scaling Web3 without sacrificing trustlessness, this one’s for you.

Timestamps

• [00:00] John’s path from banking product to ZK & Horizen Labs

• [00:03] What Horizen Labs builds; the through-line of ZK across products

• [00:05] ZK explained: proving without revealing (the cave & secret door)

• [00:08] Why ZK rollups: decongesting Ethereum and lowering gas

• [00:10] ZK Verify: a dedicated chain for proof verification (Celestia-style specialization)

• [00:13] Product vision: mainnet, throughput, efficiency; exploring more of the ZK stack

• [00:14] Who uses it: “B2B blockchain” for high-volume proofs (DEX/HFT, logins, identity)

• [00:16] The trilemma still exists; where ZK helps and where tradeoffs remain

• [00:18] SNARKs vs STARKs; trusted setups & security nuance

• [00:21] Scaling challenges: fast-moving ZK landscape; substrate upgrades; mainstream timing

• [00:24] Adoption: UX, stablecoins, institutions, and avoiding another FTX moment

• [00:31] “Zero doubt” > “trust”: why ZK removes the need to trust

• [00:32] Most over-hyped now? Prediction markets (and a caveat)

• [00:36] Roadmap: capacity, aggregation, sample apps, grants, dev onboarding

• [00:40] Ask: builders, followers, grant applicants, API users

Connect

https://horizenlabs.io/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/horizenlabs/

https://x.com/horizenlabs

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncamardo/

https://x.com/john_camardo

Disclaimer

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. Finally, it would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.
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