Mina has announced a new major update that will bring powerful zero-knowledge (ZK) smart contracts to its mainnet, according to the developers.
Recommended and voted on by the Mina altcoin community, the update will enable developers to create secure, efficient and programmable zkApps as per their statement.
ZK smart contracts are a new type of smart contract that uses ZK proofs to verify transactions without sharing input and output information.
The new update will bring several key features to Mina's protocol, such as:
- Improved security and efficiency from Kimchi, a new proof system that is faster and more universal than its predecessor.
- Removal of supercharged rewards – A temporary incentive to increase staking adoption in the early stages of the Mainnet.
- Easier zkApp programmability with o1js – Previously there was “SnarkyJS”, a TypeScript library for writing ZK smart contracts.
The update is currently undergoing testing and auditing in Testworld Mission 2.0, which is split into four parts. The first two parts, zkApp End-to-End (E2E) Testing and External Security Audit, have already been completed. The remaining two sections, Protocol and Performance Testing and “Preparation for the Upcoming Upgrade”, are continuing.
*This is not investment advice.