Working on building zkTLS infra/products. A ruthless empiricist, Co-founder/CEO @OpacityLabs
NYC
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The hardest thing to see in life is the thing that isn’t there, but if it was, it would make your life better.
For years, I’ve been obsessed with fixing a poverty of verifiability that keeps users trapped and stifles innovation. Today’s launch of the Opacity developer platform is the first step toward building that thing most people can’t even see—yet. I’m deeply grateful for the absolutely cracked team that made this happen.
And to the investors who believe in us and our vision: Your backing means everything as we push forward to build the internet as it should be: verifiable, user-owned, and composable 🫡
No turning back now. Time to fix the internet - together.
1/ The hype is real.
Opacity has raised $12M led by @archetypevc and @BreyerCap, with support from @a16zcrypto CSX, @FinalityCap, @bodhi_ventures, @NorthIslandVC,@EV3ventures, @ambushcapital and @GD1_VC.
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Wanted to take a moment to thank the @tlsnotary team at the PSE.
The venture funding rat race has begun to become the category leader in zkTLS. We shouldn’t let that overshadow the foundational work done by:
@sinu_eth @th4s_ @heeckhau @maceip
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zkTLS isn’t just cool tech, it’s the best path towards fixing the internet today. It fundamentally changes the laws of physics of the internet.
It’s your data in these walled gardens, you should be able to share it however you please.
You guys have no fucking idea what we have in store for y’all.
Sit back and enjoy the show 🫡
Working alongside @JustinMezzell and @alexisohanian on the new @digg, I find myself particularly focused on what I see as the defining challenge: the battleground for authenticity.
Put simply: How do we know who's real in a world of perfect AI mimicry?
Right now, we don't. And without intervention, we're heading for a complete collapse of online credibility.
I believe the next evolution of trust goes beyond binary human verification (checkbox or not). What excites me is building systems where trust compounds through verified actions while preserving user privacy. With Zero-Knowledge Proofs, particularly zkTLS, we can authenticate claims without compromising personal data (e.g., someone cryptographically proving they own the Oura ring they're adamantly recommending in an upcoming digg comments thread).
@sama was very prescient here, laying the groundwork with World ID (@worldcoin). I'm excited to see this extended from "this is a human" to "this human's claims are verifiable."
This erosion of digital trust impacts everything we touch online, this is a big problem. If this resonates with you, I'd love to connect - we're seeking thoughtful collaborators who grasp the magnitude of what's at stake.
cc: @OpacityNetwork @earnos_io @worldcoin
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How can crypto help creators you ask?
By making their engagement verifiable.
1m+ revenue in 7 months
CPV > $0.03 🤯
$300k payouts to creators every quarter. Buckle your seat belts, @daisypayapp out here taking crypto to a new level.
Built on @solana 🫡
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Great conversation with one of the legends of DeFi @kaiynne.
He drops some really juicy alpha on @infinex and where it’s headed.
1/ New episode – Building the DeFi UX of the Future with @kaiynne from @infinex
Hosts: @eulerlagrange @dawufi
Produced by: @Proof_Coverage
We discuss:
- Lessons & learnings from DeFi Summer and beyond
- The quest for undercollateralized crypto lending
- How @OpacityNetwork could power DeFi's next wave
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:02 - DeFi Breakthroughs and User-Centric Thinking
03:52 - How ZKPs Make Trust Possible
08:54 - Privacy Gains with HTTPS and MPC
11:01 - What zkTLS Reveals About Encryption Limits
16:35 - The Case Against Collateral in Lending
23:00 - A New Approach to UX and Data Ownership
34:32 - What Crypto Can Learn from Web2
35:28 - Coinbase or DeFi: Which UX Wins?
36:16 - Where Ideals Meet Everyday Users
37:16 - Cypherpunk Roots Meet Modern Design
41:09 - Why Web3 Needs a UX Rethink
52:40 - Timing, Strategy, and the Builder’s Mindset
Watch on all platforms below ⬇️
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It's been exciting to see possible use cases at the intersection of zkTLS and AI agents.
We at @OpacityNetwork think a lot about having a robust, adaptive security model for our zkTLS protocol, such that the proofs are suitable for adversarial decentralized contexts.
We found a way to achieve that for major AI apis. We look forward to working with @ai16zdao and @eigencloud.
PR to Eliza and more info below 👇
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Pretty wild to see trad business recognize innovation in crypto as useful before a lot of crypto does.
On a personal note @ArynChadha grew to quick on me 😿
I still remember like it was yesterday bringing him by the CSX office to meet @hrojantorse (thanks for the exception @0xMasonH).
An Ethereum-powered app (Earnifi) just won Best Financial Services App at the 2025 American Business Awards. (@TheStevieAwards)
Not a crypto award, a mainstream award won by companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google.
You might not hear your favorite influencer talking about it because it doesn't involve memecoins, gambling, it's not a launchpad, etc..
But it's become the #1 paid finance app in the App Store.
Built on @OpacityNetwork.
Powered by @eigencloud.
📍 Problem: Workers need small advances. Payday loans exploit them.
📍 Solution: Prove earned but unpaid income privately.
📍 Result: Earnifi become the #1 paid finance app in the App Store.
@ArynChadha and @eulerlagrange + team are 🐐.
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Thanks for the h/t @dabit3. It’s true, blockchains are by themselves useful. This explains why even though so much VC funding is deployed we have yet to break out of our own industry in a meaningful way.
I wanted to point out a part of @cdixon’s recent article I think is incorrect. The lack of utility of Defi is better explained by the fundamental limitations of blockchains vs regulatory bottlenecks.
We already have products like Earnifi (linked below) gaining adoption offering stablecoin alternatives to the predatory payday lending industry. This was unlocked by new regulations but zkTLS. The ability for users to port their own data from APIs like Gusto/Workday.
Blockchains by themselves are limited in utility by verifiability of the world. This thesis has been validated.
Blockchains are not actually that useful unless they are interoperable with the existing internet.
This is why zkTLS matters, why its adoption is taking off, and why I won't stop talking about it.
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Opacity as an AVS is unique in that we can support verifying proofs on different L1s from the Ethereum AVS via @eigencloud (more on that soon 👀).
This gives rise to complexity around payments and broader protocol economics.
Luckily @altantutar and the chads at @moremarketsxyz are building a solution which can help us.
That’s fucking right @sreeramkannan, we expanding the Eigen reach to different L1s 🚀
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So zkSync originally had trouble with adoption because they reqd bls keys for wallets.
The signature aggregation would have made it much cheaper to run a rollup though.
With 7702 i think this problem could be solved. Where a BLS key is registered as a delegate.
wdyt @gluk64 @portport255 ?
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I’m bullish as fuck on Helios 🚀
I get asked about Solana support for the @OpacityNetwork all the time. Funny enough just this morning to.
Eth Light client on Solana is a simple way to open up our AVS to those users without trust me bro-ing it
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Today I met a founder of @HairDAO_ .
I thought it was going to be a social club for bald men. Instead I found an industrious founder on a mission.
The NIH in the US labels baldness so that it doesn’t get a lot of funding for research.
So these guys started a DAO to collect follicles and do independent research on treatments.
Apparently hair follicles are a type of organ that doesn’t communicate with cells nearby by. So you can do experiments on them outside the body, highly scalable etc.
They have a lab in NYC, and sell their own treatments (link below).
How tf do i not know about this?
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1/ How i met Kevin Rose happened solidified why i’m so bullish @farcaster_xyz. Here’s the story.
@yb_effect wrote this banger article on zkTLS and Opacity last year. Def subscribe to him.
Kevin came across it and randomly DMd me. We quickly hopped on a call and he conveyed excitement about zkTLS and that he could use it.
…
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Been impressed with the quick response and turnaround time for a PR from the @SuccinctLabs
@pumatheuma runs a tight ship 👏
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The story behind Earnifi is one of my favorites.
@ArynChadha approached me after I gave a talk with some partners at @DePINSummit organized by @EV3ventures.
I had never thought about payroll advancing as a business. I had a young founder explain to me how zkTLS would unlock a new paradigm in that market. Going through the user instead of an intermediary leads to efficiencies.
A user centric model can’t be predatory. This is a pattern I have noticed in the @OpacityNetwork ecosystem with Daisy and Nosh.
Aryn has impressed me with his attitude as a founder. He got a job at the @Cheesecake to onboard workers as initial users.
Bright days ahead in crypto and the world 🫡
Eigenlayer: taking crypto mainstream!
————————-
Earnifi
The #5 Finance App in the App Store.
@OpacityNetwork ♾️ @eigencloud
————————-
Problem
I am a regular worker and want an advance.
————————-
Today
Predatory pay day loans
————————-
Solution
Prove to the lender that the borrower receives x wages regularly (=genuine)
————————-
Unlock
Opacity provides powerful primtives for anyone to prove arbitrary claims about their bank account with privacy!
————————-
Community
This is made possible by the never-say-die, help-builders-build, overthrow-tyrants attitude of @eulerlagrange from opacity and the entrepreneurial spirit of @ArynChadha from Earnifi.
————————-
Call to action
Eigenlayer powers verifiability of arbitrary claims. Opacity powers private verifiability of all password-protected content.
Come build the user-owned internet with us!
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1/ I remember the convo we had with Ray, founder of @daisypayapp, back in Dec’23 like it was yesterday.
The opportunity he had identified was the first of many I wouldn’t have been able to imagine myself.
@OpacityNetwork is a proud investor of Daisy alongside @EV3ventures, @VoltCapital and @CMT_Digital. More details 👇
Time to move on from the old KOL meta.
Daisy is THE engagement engine for brands that pays creators in stablecoins for doing what they already do: liking, commenting, sharing, and sharing posts across social media.
We at Volt Capital along with our friends at @CMT_Digital and @EV3ventures are thrilled to back Ray, Ian, Vince and the rest of the Daisy team as they challenge the status quo of virality.
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Just recorded a body slammin banger episode of @Rubicon_pod with @sreeramkannan and @dawufi
Can't wait for y'all to listen to it
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I have a write up on how to build this somewhere.
We need to buy a struggling bank and hook it up to eigen as a first step.
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Thanks @dabit3 for having us on infinite layers, was a blast 🫡🙏
I’ve been navigating the idea maze that culminated in @OpacityNetwork for a long time. Happy to be able to tell that story on a long form podcast.
it’ll give you a renewed optimism in crypto 🚀
Link below
👇
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I can honestly say I don’t think @OpacityNetwork would have moved as fast as it has if we didn’t take @EV3ventures money early on.
Definitely went into our first serious raise with Escape Velocity 🚀. Cosign hard as a first check VC.
DM Sal, @MoneroMahesh and @VinayakDKurup with your crazy ideas.
A bit over a year ago, @eulerlagrange wouldn't stop telling me a new verifiable data primitive called "zkTLS" that he thought he'd finally figured out how to scale. Before long we became the first investors into @OpacityNetwork
Within months, we noticed our other portfolio companies like @NoshDelivery & @daylightenergy integrating zkTLS to drive step-function improvements in unit economics. Verifiable data enabled them to acquire higher-value users, with better conversion & less fraud.
The next step should've been obvious, but I didn't really see it until @itsphilgeorge painted the vision for me: every brand - not just the DePIN ones - will use zkTLS to change how they acquire & serve users... the unit economics gains are simply too big to be ignored.
EarnOS is a platform that puts users back in control of their data. There is no "web2 version of EarnOS": the core value proposition - data sovereignty and economic alignment between users and the platform - is fundamentally not possible in web2. The public beta is live today, please try it out and leave feedback: beta.earnos.io/
Over the coming months, the team will be working with several tier-1 brands to create custom campaigns, enabling users to earn USDC rewards & customized offers for engaging with some of the world's leading brands.
With EarnOS, everybody wins.
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My theory is good founders are rare because:
1. Founders need to be smart,
2. Being really smart makes it harder to be a good founder.
When you’re really smart you live in a world of ideas.
But you need bridge heaven to the earth by actually building the ideas into life.
Reality: extremely constrained
Ideas: unconstrained
So you have to realize a manifestation from the unconstrained from a medium that’s constrained.
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One of my biggest regrets in life is not dropping out of school earlier to build in crypto.
If I went all in 2015/2016, I’d be years ahead wrt learnings and connections.
Similar opportunity came around DeFi summer. Some thoughts👇about next 18 months for crypto.
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Fun fact: on this day last year (my birthday) I pitched @mason @NoahCitron / @a16zcrypto
Been the best year of my life and we’re just getting started 🚀
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Was thinking about social consensus and forking, and realized it’s not really a property of blockchains.
All you need is data availability and verifiability to fork. With zkTLS, this means web2 networks can be forked.
For example, for Twitter, everyone just needs to export handle and who they follow. Then the full graph can be constructed.
“Data availability” is taken more literally than the way it’s used in crypto. As long as that data is exposed over an api, the user can generate the proofs.
@sreeramkannan were foisting forkability to the existing Internet 🫡
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If you’re wondering what all the @OpacityNetwork hype is about, then check out this talk I gave at the @archetypevc office.
@dawufi’s helped us improve our marketing language since, but on the technicals it’s a good overview
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A few weeks ago I was talking about how the poverty of verifiability limits crypto use cases.
It’s a subtle first principles thesis. One of the things you can do if you make the existing internet more verifiable is construct a bank that’s defined with onchain contracts.
Am I hearing someone wants to buy a bank to transform it with crypto native rails?
Need some top finance / Wall Street people to go help Hersh.
Please dm me.
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If you’re in college and want to work in crypto, then dropout and start working.
College is a waste of time
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There are tiers of PMF.
The highest tier is when your product is so good even if your competitors offered theirs for free it wouldn’t be cheap enough.
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We created the zkTLS tech at @OpacityNetwork, and we’ve definitely seen more companies founded where zkTLS is a key unlock.
I wish i explicitly said this in our first meeting @ashegan smh. Need to read more Jensen lore.
Shout out to @DAnconia_Crypto who saw this without me telling him 🫡
h/t to @lindaxie for the quote
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I have noticed in a lot of BD conversations for @OpacityNetwork people try and fit zkTLS into the existing crypto concepts and end up at pretty mid use cases.
We usually ask a lot of questions to get them thinking from first principles.
I think the ideas people had back in 2016 would be a better starting point but the door was closed given who’s survived.
The door is now open again
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All of us venture backed zkTLS companies are building our brands shamelessly (as is the nature of the game).
Wanted to take the opportunity to point out the @ethereumfndn / @PrivacyScaling took a really early bet on @tlsnotary. Back when there was a lot of skepticism of whether it would be useful for practical applications.
I myself would’ve never seen the opportunity to disintermediate predatory payday lending (@ArynChadha is the chad responsible).
Thanks @heeckhau @sinu_eth and the rest of the TLSNotary chads for all their hard work and support in the beginning. The Winkleveen meetup was a key turning point 🫡
Apps, product launches, acquisitions and more…
Here are 28 things the Ethereum ecosystem got done over the last few weeks.
0/ @Shopify announced support for stablecoins on @base across their platform, giving millions of businesses in 175+ countries access to Ethereum-powered commerce.
1/ @fileverse launched dSheets, spreadsheets that can natively talk to and interact with smart contracts on Ethereum. dSheets lets teams pull data directly from Ethereum accounts and apps, run complex operations, and collaborate securely 🔐.
2/ Earnifi is a fintech app that makes it easy for anyone to get access to credit, and it’s now the #3 finance app in the US App Store. Powered by @OpacityNetwork and @eigencloud. Ethereum is for apps.
3/ Onchain social network @zora is now the 91st most popular social app in the US App Store. Ethereum is for creators earning onchain.
4/ @rstormf launched a new fundraiser to help pay costs for his upcoming trial in July. The @ethereumfndn donated $500K and is matching another $750K.
Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime.
5/ @shibuyafilm launched a crowdfunding platform for creators, where 5 filmmakers funded their work by minting individual frames of each episode. The ability to mint has ended but donations on the main website are still open. Ethereum is for culture.
6/ Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) built on Ethereum continue to grow their influence: recently, 25% of spot trades on centralized exchanges originated from DEXs, an all-time high.
7/ @Etherealize_io published “The Bull Case for ETH”, a new report aimed at institutional investors advocating for ETH as a globally significant asset. Ethereum is for ETH.
8/ @eigencloud introduced EigenCloud, a developer platform extending Ethereum-backed trust & verifiability to any app, on or offchain.
9/ @noicedotso launched on @farcaster_xyz, enabling likes, replies and DMs to translate to monetary value. In 6 weeks the team saw 1.6M+ tips worth $91K+. Ethereum is for microtransactions.
10/ @ethereumfndn announced a reorg of their protocol R&D efforts, with a near term focus on three strategic goals: scale L1, scale blobs for L2s, and improve UX.
11/ @sharplink announced a $425M private placement for an Ethereum treasury strategy, led by @Consensys, with plans to purchase ETH as its primary treasury reserve asset.
12/ @jpmorgan announced plans to create JPMD, a USD deposit token for institutional clients to move funds on @base. Ethereum is for institutions.
13/ @zkemail announced a new Registry tool enabling more powerful zero-knowledge features, which will help anyone who wants to selectively disclose private info or verify financial information.
14/ @Uniswap v4 surpassed $84B in swap volume ~5 months after launch.
15/ Automated market maker (AMM), @EkuboProtocol crossed $1B+ in cumulative trading volume.
16/ @stripe acquired @privy_io, a web3 wallet infrastructure company, bringing crypto & fiat closer together to change how value moves through the Internet.
17/ The BUIDL fund paid out $10M+ in dividends on Ethereum in May, the highest monthly total to date. Launched on @Securitize, secured by Ethereum.
18/ Popular lending app, @eulerfinance grew deposits to $2.28B in 3 months and active loans to ~$1.1B, an all-time high.
19/ @AgoraGovernance shipped gasless DAO voting and social vote sharing to make the DAO experience more social and economical. Ethereum is for DAOs.
20/ @MorphoLabs, powering onchain lending, announced “Morpho V2”, a platform designed to meet the needs of DeFi’s sophisticated & institutional participants. Ethereum is for DeFi.
21/ @zksync introduced Prividium, an enterprise-grade blockchain platform for finance. The first institutional partner, @DeutscheBank, is already building on the platform with @Memento_Bc.
22/ @Scroll_ZKP, a zkEVM rollup, achieved a 1-second block time, making the network 3x faster.
23/ Timeboost, a mechanism allowing MEV searchers to bid for priority transaction inclusion on @arbitrum, collected $1.8M in total fees after only 10 weeks of being live.
24/ @StarkWareLtd launched next-gen prover, S-two, enabling client-side proving for everyday devices.
25/ Ethereum Smart Account usage surged. Safe accounts processed 28M transactions in May, 40% more than the previous all-time high.
26/ The ecosystem gathered in Czechia for @ETHPrague and @ETHGlobal Prague, where a combined 600+ hackers and 1000+ attendees came together to learn and build on Ethereum.
27/ @EdgeEsmeralda, a month-long popup village by Esme Institute & @joinedgecity, convened in California. The event brought together people at the frontiers of tech, science, and social innovation, and created an environment where new ideas & systems—like those built on Ethereum—come to life.
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EigenLayer - venture scale
Opacity (on Eigen) - venture scale
EarnOS/Daisy/etc (on Opacity) - venture scale
I don’t think people fully appreciate how crazy this is in 2024, when some people are claiming tech venture is dead.
What’s the use of zkTLS?
——————
EarnOS describes ideas that can utilize @OpacityNetwork to onboard the next weave of consumers to crypto.
——————
The era of consumer applications powered by @eigencloud is upcoming.
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How to colonize Solana:
Get @NoahCitron to deploy a Helios ETH light client to Solana, so you get ETH state roots there.
Then you can bridge @eigencloud AVS state there, so you can use ETH security on Solana.
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I’m technically competing with @madhavanmalolan, but he’s never acted in bad faith with me 🤝.
Lots of bad faith actors in crypto, be careful 👀.
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We’re a zkTLS AVS.
With proofs ontop of https the best you can do is economic security. So @eigencloud is literally the perfect solution for us.
And we have quite a few apps in our ecosystem 🫡
We’ve come a long way since that talk at the @archetypevc office 🫡
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Crypto founders shouldn’t readily take advice on how to build ecosystems.
The space moves so quickly, previously successful strategies are now counterproductive.
Whatever you’re building, there’s a very good chance no one has actually done it before successfully.
Trust your instincts
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Is bd not good or do we build shit no one wants to buy?
Are dev rels mid or is crypto just a unfriendly dev paradigm?
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You guys are not ready the stuff that’s about to come out of the @OpacityNetwork ecosystem
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I met a founder who has gotten a lot of venues in NYC as customers, including Madison square garden.
He found a unique wedge into that market. Let venues access liquidity for ticket sales early. A form of factoring.
He is asking for logins to be shared to verify historical sales manually.
This is the problem with TLS deniability. Only one party can witness the transcript and know the data is legitimate.
With zkTLS, he can do this purely with software.
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Btw Aryn got a job at the Cheesecake Factory just so he could onboard the workers their into his product.
This is what founder lead product development looks like
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Come through to the @monad_xyz office if you're interested in zkTLS and the exciting use cases.
H/t to @0x3van et al for organizing
Sign up for the zkTLS demo day here: lu.ma/7z8erbiu
Featuring talks and demos by:
- @eulerlagrange from @OpacityNetwork
- @lawrencelimxyz from @henrylabs
- @richardzliang from @zkp2p
- @itsphilgeorge from @earnos_io
- @bitvickyzh from @primus_labs
- Ian Ettinger from @daisypayapp
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We had an app launch in the @OpacityNetwork ecosystem and it hit #5 in the iOS App Store really quickly.
Doesn’t do A or B.
Remember the first time this happened at DePin summit Carl?
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There’s Indians and then there’s the Gujaratis cc @hrojantorse
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I can honestly say I don’t think @OpacityNetwork
would have moved as fast as it has if we didn’t have @EV3ventures as our first check.
Cosign hard as a first check VC, helped during all of our war time moments.
@DAnconia_Crypto and @MoneroMahesh are some of the best thesis driven investors around. They helped create DePin as a category, and instrumental in our zkTLS ecosystem.
DM them your crazy ideas 🫡
95% of the internet runs on TLS locking data in walled gardens which extract value at the users' expense
@OpacityNetwork + zkTLS empowers private data portability, unlocking massive value for new user aligned apps
And now, that value accrues natively on @solana with @jito_sol
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Son of a musician taking on a Goliath and succeeding.
@KYDNimale is the goat, bringing NYC venues on-chain.
Mans already doing millions in sales and this is just the beginning.
Keep an eye on @KYDLabs building on @solana
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A bold hot take by @Ismael_H_R that I agree with.
ZK is basically just math. Math does not have PMF, but actuary tables do.
Selling ZK is like selling TCP/IP protocols instead of the internet. People don’t care about packet routing - they care about sending emails and browsing websites.
Painkillers and not Vitamins people 👏
"The biggest mistake ZK companies make is trying to sell ZK as a product.
It’s not. ZK is a technology.
What you’re really offering is privacy, security, and safety.”
- @Ismael_H_R at @HouseofZK's Boundless panel at Web3 Festival 🇭🇰
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Was hanging out with @earnos_io at some fancy conference.
Ran into a VC who said to @itsphilgeorge:
> you should add a token launch pad to your mini app
He was serious. Bearish af.
Not because it’s a stupid idea (it is), but the audacity to make a suggestion for a product you don’t understand.
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CT is stuck in this mindset you need a token for something to be useful in crypto.
Meanwhile Daisy is out here making small creators a few thousand month by monetizing engagement on Tiktok/Instagram.
But no one on CT will care unless we throw an AI agent in there.
People want useful apps, not everything to be financialized.
daisypay.io
It's true that "not all tokens" are created equal, but the right way to classify them is according to their technical, legal, and economic properties. How they work determines what they are — not just the vibe or name.
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We’ve hit a milestone where people more likely have heard of Opacity vs zkTLS more often when i introduce myself
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A lot of infra valuations assume a minimum of 10x in active user base of crypto.
One question I’ve been toiling over is whether we can extrapolate the habits of the existing user base to the next wave of growth.
Or if we have to attract them with a new approach.
I personally think the latter
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If you zk prove to me you’re the appropriate age i may or may not be giving out some banger stickers 👀
Introducing the zkTLS Special Session at Upgrade the Internet, with speakers @eulerlagrange, @ArynChadha, and @VinayakDKurup.
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One year ago i wrote this eth research post on how to elegantly split up proving so it’s faster on the client side without sacrificing privacy.
Written casually so researchers didn’t take it seriously. It wasn’t directly relevant to @OpacityNetwork so couldn’t prioritize it.
Just learned @Proofbase_xyz has traversed this line of thinking.
EulerLagrangodamus strikes again.
ethresear.ch/t/lookup-singul…
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People don't fully appreciate how big of a win this is for crypto. @ArynChadha identified an opportunity to use zkTLS x Stablecoins to build an alternative to payday lending.
That industry is extremely predatory and the rates are 300% APY minimum (usually way more).
They have the ability to charge 0% borrowing fees bc they can underwrite the present instead of just the past.
Let that sink in @0xstark, giving pay check to pay check Americans some room to breathe to buy groceries when they need them, not when they get paid.
114. Earnifi makes it easy to get access to credit, with no credit score needed. It's one of the top finance apps in the US App Store.
Earnifi uses zkTLS for secure proof of income, and is powered by @OpacityNetwork and @eigencloud.
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This so hard.
Only one thing i’d add. There are 100x the opportunities building for the general population vs crypto natives.
The amount of founders in crypto that can straddle this line is exceedingly rare.
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Are you an venture ecosystem founder like me?
If your success depends on multiple venture backed projects building on top of you and being successful, then yes you are!
Being an VE founder is a very different game. You have to build a foundation that leaves enough room for your partners to build their own venture outcomes.
I've seen too many cases where protocols are designed that try and extract all the value. Why would someone build on you if this is the case?
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VCs love modeling markets, moats, and margins — but ignore the most volatile variable: human capital.
I’ve argued with VCs who think founders should avoid tech that can be commoditized early. But you can’t commoditize a cracked founding team. The people are the alpha. Full stop.
Look at zkTLS: a lot of investors tell me the “edge” is ecosystem or BD. In other words going down the tech path is a dead end.
They’re missing the deeper point.
The real edge is having people who deeply get the tech work cohesively with those know how to execute commercially and understand the tech.
That combination is what wins.
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Alhamdulilah, god give me everything.
God has different plans for me than lung cancer, so i will continue to smoke cigarettes with impunity.
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These numbers are wild.
Props to the EarnOS team for this crazy accomplishment, bullish consumer this cycle
2 Weeks of Phase Two Beta: The Breakdown ✍️
We launched Phase Two Beta just 14 days ago, and have been blown away by the response so far. We’re huge advocates for building in public so we’re excited to share a few highlights and updates below ⬇️🧵
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Feeling optimistic as my time at Farcon has come to an end.
I’ve come across a few instances of a chain/protocol that announces something with a naive view of crypto.
They need apps built on them to succeed, yet they unconsciously try to commoditize the app layer in their own roadmap.
Blockspace is not a scarce resource. A founder with product chops and the consumer sense to build an app to PMF is the scarcest resource in crypto.
@farcaster_xyz is one of the few communities that is tuned right in this regard.
Biggest takeaways from Farcon this week:
1. I actually attended it
2. Talked to several Farcaster OGs who expressed deep conviction and sincere passion for the culture + growth strategy of the protocol, and are willing to evangelize to any and every one who will listen
3. Heard several stories of permissionless innovation happening (ie. coinbase wallet, mini apps, and the all-volunteer summit itself)
4. Heard the repeated sentiment that the community is down-to-earth/welcoming (which sounds about right based on my personal experience the past 3 years attending meetups to learn more about Farcaster and being able to get in every single time)
5. Seems like being a part of the "Base Cabal" or being friends with someone at Coinbase is often times irrelevant for success in the Farcaster eco
6. Sensed a division forming within the NYC crypto scene:
- On one hand you have "Brooklyn Crypto" which is creative, ships "vibes" and is full of Farcaster enthusiasts
- On the other hand you have "Manhattan Crypto" which is where most are welcome at meetups, people also ship cool shit, alt-VMs and Solana are welcome, and seems to be dominated by X dot com enjoyers
I'm really excited for this industry's sake that numerous developers with meaningful distribution are shipping good alternative clients for Farcaster that can gain some real traction
Because the promise of a decentralized social graph is so damn important, and really gets me excited to participate
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People often say zkTLS isn’t a new idea in crypto. It’s certainly not.
The breakthrough has been bc of better tech, but moreso solving how to gtm infra that doesn’t play nicely with crypto as it is.
You need people with very specific areas of expertise from product, law, cryptography/eng, bd/gtm and story telling.
I’m proud of the avengers we have assembled to fix the internet here at @OpacityNetwork
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Went on a walk with @DAnconia_Crypto and we came across a nice stream.
The man put together a makeshift fishing pole and net and caught us lunch.
Get you an investor who can catch you lunch with no gear
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I think private credit via stablecoins will grow much faster than RWA adoption in the US
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My story for how I got obsessed with zkTLS is I realized a lack of verifiable data is what limits zk/crypto use cases.
I didn’t start with zkTLS, I worked in the industry @Obstropolos helped start of verifiable credentials. Signed data.
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The Opacity devs @RonTuretzky and @0xWildhare casually in the top 3 teams for the ETH Denver hackathon.
The EVM sucks, the @gaskiller_ concept is a simple way to make it more expressive with a simple DevEx.
The urge to do something useful is too strong
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Got a banger demo for y'all today, and dropping some alpha 👀
It's zkTLS Demo Day! Come discuss what a verifiable internet unlocks with:
@eulerlagrange - @OpacityNetwork
@lawrencelimxyz - @henrylabs
@richardzliang - @zkp2p
@itsphilgeorge - @earnos_io
@bitvickyzh - @primus_labs
Ian Ettinger - @daisypayapp
RSVP: lu.ma/7z8erbiu
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Don’t build a zkTLS corporate espionage market where you put up bounties for employees of a company to leak verified data.
Don’t!
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Fun fact: I only found the solution to the collusion issue in MPC-TLS because of farcaster
/5
Architecture - When you go to your bank account, your computer talks to the bank's server.
zk-TLS verifies this process by having a validator watch and verify that the data sent is correct.
It can do this in 3 ways: multi-party computation (MPC), proxy, or just using a TEE.
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The Bridge and the Boat
A city is split by a river. Engineers design a perfect bridge—strong, fast, efficient. But it requires every building to be moved ten feet to align with new roads. No one agrees to the change.
One day, a ferryman starts shuttling people across in boats. It’s not perfect, but it works today. The city thrives.
Years later, the bridge is still a blueprint.
⸻
The lesson: Waiting for everyone to cooperate stops progress.
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Many consumer crypto protocols are like designing a hammer based on what nail manufacturers think people need, rather than understanding the pain points users experience.
Instead of solutions that serve infrastructures’ needs, focus on solving real problems users face. The best compass isn't speculation—it's watching real people navigate real challenges.
In practice, it’s very difficult to assess these things from first principles. You actually have to hypothesis test with users for validation.
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Since being a founder i have realized eth is in a precarious place.
For the time being i’m in the mode of wanting to be apart of making it better vs complaining about it.
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@mike_perhats and I have talked about and built this way before crypto twitter got excited about zkTLS
A thread on farcaster on this topic:
warpcast.com/eulerlagrange.e…
UX matters because users matter
@NoshDelivery piggybacks on existing networks to completely solve the bootstrap problem and get users actually using the product immediately
Learn from Nosh
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Super excited we can finally talk about KYD. @KYDNimale is an incredible founder with a bold vision to fix the ticketing industry.
They brought on some big venues and this is just scratching the surface.
Super bullish, keep an eye on KYD 👀
Excited to announce we’ve raised $7M led by @a16zcrypto CSX to build a factoring protocol for venues and deliver loyalty rewards to fans
We’re the first web3 company to onboard legendary venues like LPR and H0l0, driving $4M+ in ticket sales in the past year alone
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Hair loss is an unnecessary burden on society. Do you know I can spend my HSA/FSA on a wig if im going through chemo, but not if its normal make pattern baldness?
I’m really pissed off right now. This is a god damn travesty of Boston tea party proportions.
All it took was one leader to rise up and channel this pent up demand into solving this problem.
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do you want your founder surrounded by the best and brightest who are really close to shipping something useful but just haven’t figured out how yet?
eulerlagrange school for founders who haven’t found PMF beyond speculation is now enrolling!
spots are limited - act fast and dm today to secure your founder's future
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New post w @p3shoemaker
Crypto’s AirTag Moment: Unlocking Mass Adoption with Web Proofs
How zkTLS will revolutionize airdrops, incentives, and marketplaces
nascent.xyz/idea/cryptos-air…
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Before CSX: Anon shit poster on farcaster.
After CSX: Still shit posting but now like a god damn Roman senator.
You’ll be in great hands with @_annasemenova_ and @jasonrosenthal 🫡
P.S. if you optimize your faucets and sinks @eddylazzarin might take your photo you can use to shit post the subsequent CSX announcement 😎
Applications for CSX Spring 2025 are now open!
Our Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX) program provides expert guidance, capital, and resources for founders of early-stage crypto startups.
More details about the program:
→ Will be held in San Francisco 🌁
→ Minimum of $500,000 investment
→ The nine-week, in-person program will start in April and end with a Demo Day in June 📣
→ Participants receive hands-on guidance, mentorship, and inspiration from some of the best leaders and operators in crypto today 🫡
→ Application will remain open until February 7th 📜
Apply here: apply.a16zcrypto.com
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There is this idea in crypto that the browser is best.
You live in a circle jerk bubble, go make friends outside of crypto
it’s not gonna be about the architecture anymore.
it’s about who’s gonna give the user/ customer the most in terms of UX flexibility ( desktop/ native apps/ app-clips
@reclaimprotocol will have all three soon.
opacity only has a native app flow which we offer as a feature.
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My husband launched a token
Introducing $LA: the token powering decentralized proof generation and verifiable AI across the Lagrange Prover Network
From provable AI inferences (DeepProve) to rollup scalability, $LA powers a self-sustaining economy where proof demand drives token demand 👉 lagrangefoundation.org/blog/…
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We have noticed a pattern for everything in the @OpacityNetwork that’s grown quickly.
There’s some existing market which is intermediated, BUT it’s more efficient to go through the end user than the intermediary.
zkTLS is the one tool we have to empower users.
Calling @eulerlagrange here! We need you to give the power back to drivers and users. 💪🔥💯
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🤦🏽♂️
2 reasons:
Credit cards act as a proxy KYC.
In the US people predominantly use credit cards. The UX of spend now and settle later cannot be beaten.
Using stables means you have to switch the user habit to keeping wallet topped up. This type of consumer habit is extremely hard to change.
I’ll bet any amount of money most crypto natives will use CC if given both options.
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