Originally published on Scuba’s Medium page (link).

🤿 Introducing Scuba Protocol — A Next-Gen Zero Knowledge Smart Account

Seamless, Scalable, Privacy-Preserving Web 3 Experience with an Innovative ZKP-OP Framework

TL;DR

• Scuba aims to develop a next-generation Smart Account supporting zk-enhanced assets and Account Abstraction, enabling cost-effective encrypted transactions on EVM networks.
• It serves as a gateway for seamless one-tap entry for zk assets to a variety of decentralized applications from DeFi to NFTs and beyond, laying the foundation for mass adoption with a highly customizable, privacy-as-an-option, future-proof and usability-centric experience.
• Scuba’s core feature (live on testnet after extensively testing), Scuba zk-Account, is a smart account that allows users to convert erc20 assets into privacy-enhanced zk assets which can be transferred without revealing transaction details.
• Scuba’s platform operates on an OP-ZKP Framework, which achieves scalability and privacy at a production-ready level by integrating zero knowledge proofs with Optimism Rollup to ensure transaction details remain confidential while minimizing gas and challenge period.

Ethereum’s Challenges & Transition Triangle

Let’s delve into Vitalik’s recent blog, which concludes that our interaction with Ethereum must undergo fundamental changes, necessitating deep transformations from applications and wallets.

Image from Vitalik’s latest blog about Etheruem’s Transition Triangle.

Ethereum needs to tackle a few challenges before fulfilling its potential as the world computer for financial contracts and digital assets; the primarty of which being “Privacy isn’t EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatible” as Ethereum blockchains are not designed to be ZKP (Zero-Knowledge Proof) friendly. On-chain ZKP related cryptography is costly, and the EVM mechanism is only “efficient” for simple VM operations.

This has created significant challenges for Etheruem’s the global adoption, as a majority of financial and business activities would not be feasible to operate on-chain. Not to mention higher-level use cases such as tokenized investments, payroll, credit scoring, real-world asset management, even everyday transactions such as paying for pizza with crypto lack a satisfactory user experience. (The process is as cumbersome as putting an elephant in the fridge compared to the one-click ease of using Apple Pay):

In comparison, we can hardly claim that Alice or Bob had a positive user experience due to the following reasons:

• Scalability/High gas fees: This is a well-known issue. Currently, Ethereum transactions cost $3.75, whereas transactions on L2s like Optimism generally cost less than $0.1 per transfer. The next wave of users needed for mass adoption is unlikely to choose L1, especially for daily micro-payments.
• Asset Management: Users like Bob face challenges managing multiple assets across different blockchain layers, particularly if they wish to follow the “one wallet, one transaction” approach. Bob may not want to manage his assets within an externally owned account (EOA) wallet, which makes managing multiple assets across L1 and L2s in a single operation difficult.
• Privacy Preservation: While Alice may not be concerned, the majority of individuals would never want their daily transactions freely accessible to the public. It would compromise their privacy to an excessively high extent.