On Thursday, blockchain infrastructure startup The Foundation unveiled a toolkit that it said would reduce the time it takes for developers to build channels that apply zero-knowledge encryption algorithms.

This new project from = nil;, called zkLLVM, works as a compiler for developers building zero-knowledge circuits. A zero-knowledge circuit is a unique algorithm that allows people to make sure that something is true without having to prove its process.

ZK technology has been around since the 1980s, but its application to login passwords-from buying and selling personal privacy to blockchain technology expansion-has contributed to a ZK revitalization in recent years. The innovation of ZK scientific research has added hundreds of millions of dollars to new companies such as Matter Labs, StarkWare and Mina to develop and design blockchain infrastructure equipment based on ZK. WJB reported last week that = nil; has already raised $22 million to build its own zero-knowledge commodity module.

Komarov says = nil; created zkLLVM, which greatly reduces the workload of ZK developers by making it easy for ZK developers to convert code collated in familiar computer languages such as C and Rust into zero-knowledge circuits for thoroughly related work.

For developers, writing a zero-knowledge circuit is usually a complex and timely task. It generally involves understanding unpopular computer languages and demanding, domain-specific software libraries.

LLVM is the abbreviation of "low-level vm virtual machine", which refers to a set of open source libraries that developers use to "compile" human-readable code into a format that can be interpreted by electronic computers. Founder Mikhail Komarov told WJB that under the premise of the new LLVM project, "we built a compiler in a well-known popular language."

The new ZkLLVM project will also be fully automatically plugged into nil; 's recently announced ZK Proof sales market, which is designed to help ZK elite teams decentralize their operations and outsource some types of computing to third parties.

The charitable foundation announced the new project on Thursday in Github with open source system approval, which means that all developers are free to use or modify the zkLLVM code.

The charitable foundation shows that its technology will be particularly effective for thousands of companies scrambling to build so-called zkEVM. ZkEVM is an ethernet expansion solution that applies ZK technology to reduce blockchain costs and waiting time.

Taking zkEVM Platform Scroll as an example, Komarov explains that they use a unique software library developed for the Rust computer language to manually build circuits. It took them about a year and a half and a lot of money, Komarov said. "if he is exposed to what we have done before, maybe it will only take them months to build and adjust things."

ZK circuits are increasingly used to maintain meaningful digital currency flows, which means that incorrect programming is likely to prove very expensive. Komarov acknowledges to WJB that zkLLVM must express itself in order to be recognized by developers. When the initial version number of the zkLLVM code base was leaked on the network, some developers indicated that they would be vigilant against the circuit formation level of trust = zero, taking full account of the diversity of the code.

Komarov also mentioned that zkLLVM has limitations in dealing with larger circuits at this stage-the process is more complex and cannot be converted to zero knowledge. However, the hope is that the zkLLVM code base will be perfected to such a level that developers will eventually be able to focus on the rest of their software instead of thinking about the nature of ZK circuit construction.