The Mina Protocol is about to undergo a significant upgrade with the goal of bringing Zero-Knowledge (ZK) smart contracts to its mainnet. On the Mina platform, it is envisaged that this breakthrough will increase community involvement and product development.
Three main characteristics of the upcoming improvement include:
Enhanced zkApp Programmability: The upgrade’s incorporation of o1js will make zkApp development simpler. Earlier, this programme was known as “SnarkyJS,” a TypeScript library made specifically for creating ZK smart contracts.
An innovative proof method called Kimchi, which promises to improve efficiency and security, is about to be used by Mina.
Phase-out of Supercharged prizes: During the early phases of its mainnet, Mina had offered supercharged prizes in an effort to promote staking usage. This incentive will be eliminated in the forthcoming upgrade, though.
These improvements weren’t picked at random; rather, the Mina community put forward and approved them, demonstrating the platform’s dedication to decentralised decision-making. The Testworld Mission 2.0 has been started by Mina in order to get ready for this major advancement. This testnet is divided into four independent tracks, the first two of which have already been finished: zkApp End-to-End (E2E) Testing and External Security Auditing. The remaining tracks concentrate on Protocol & Performance Testing and last-minute upgrades.
Significant improvements have been made to Mina since the rollout of its mainnet, particularly thanks to @o1_labs. Their contributions include the universalization of the recursive layer Pickles to Kimchi, implementing zkApp transaction logic, and making crucial changes to complementing modules produced by zkApps. The o1js frontend’s ability to support zkApps and seamlessly bind to the protocol and proof system layers is also greatly owed to their contributions.
The “succinct blockchain” known as Mina Protocol seeks to reduce processing requirements for effective DApp operations. The Mina blockchain, which claims to be the lightest in the world, maintains its size regardless of usage, guaranteeing a balance between security and decentralisation..
Mina’s network is only 22 KB, in stark contrast to Bitcoin’s 300 GB, which was rebranded from Coda Protocol in October 2020. A distributed payment system that enables users to use zk-SNARKs cryptographic proofs to verify from the genesis block is the main objective of Mina. MINA serves as the protocol’s native currency. Using the Ouroboros Samasika PoS mechanism and parallel scan state for transaction speed, Mina functionally blends components from Bitcoin and Ethereum.
There is a noticeable sense of momentum behind this update, with many volunteers devoting their time to the testnet that is financially rewarded, the upgrade itself, and the crucial tasks that will come after. Mina emphasises that everyone from node operators and developers to community creators and consumers must work together for this upgrade to be successful.
The Mina Foundation, which is in charge of creating and overseeing the so-called “lightest blockchain in the world,” Mina Protocol, has raised $92 million in investment to further zero-knowledge proof technology. Three Arrows Capital and FTX Ventures were the driving forces behind this investment round. However, both of these well-known companies have since filed for bankruptcy.