Technical Whitepaper
Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Physical Assets: A methodology for linking physical matter to digital hashes without revealing collector identity.
Abstract
The primary challenge in securing physical assets on a public blockchain is privacy. High-net-worth collectors require immutable provenance, but exposing their wallet addresses alongside high-value physical asset data creates significant security risks (the "$5 wrench attack").
This paper outlines the implementation of zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge) to allow a collector to prove ownership of a verified asset hash without revealing their public key or the full transactional history of the asset.
Implementation Architecture
Instead of minting a standard ERC-721 token that publicly links an asset ID (e.g., a Babe Ruth baseball) to a public address (0x123...), we utilize a shielded pool model.
1. Asset Ingestion:
The physical item is scanned according to our standard protocol, generating the 800MB topographical file.
2. Hashing:
A SHA-256 hash is generated representing the asset (H_asset).
3. Commitment Creation:
A random secret (r) is generated by the user's local client. A commitment C = Hash(H_asset, r) is sent to the smart contract.
The blockchain only stores the commitment C. To transfer or verify the asset, the owner generates a zk-Proof demonstrating they know the secret r that corresponds to a commitment in the active registry, without revealing which specific commitment they own.
Read Full Documentation
The complete protocol specifications, mathematics, and open-source smart contracts are available for peer review.
View on GitHub