Succinct and the ZK Podcast Release Inaugural ZK Industry Report
The free report argues ZK proofs have cleared their speed hurdle, with adoption spreading from Ethereum blocks to bank deposit networks.
Zero-knowledge proofs are graduating from crypto research into everyday infrastructure, according to the new 2026 ZK Industry Report released Wednesday (Oct. 28th) by the Zero Knowledge Podcast and prover company Succinct.
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What’s the Scoop?
Speed check: By the report’s count, ZK proofs now cover 99% of blocks on Ethereum mainnet in less than 10 seconds, though proving everyday computation remains “orders of magnitude” pricier than just running the code.
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Rollups turn ZK: Per the authors, the three biggest optimistic rollups are each moving toward ZK proofs. Base’s Azul upgrade, for instance, trimmed withdrawal waits from a week to roughly a day.
Banks and big tech: The adoption map now stretches well past crypto. KeyCorp, Huntington, and M&T are among seven U.S. regional banks working on a tokenized deposit network atop ZKsync’s Prividium, while Google has shipped ZK-powered age checks in Google Wallet.
Who made it: Anna Rose’s Zero Knowledge Podcast co-produced the free report with Succinct, which builds the SP1 zkVM, and Stanford cryptographer Dan Boneh wrote the foreword.
Big picture: A shift has occurred from “can ZK work?” to “who’s actually using it?” That includes privacy coins, too. Timed nicely with Zcash’s 10th birthday, the report says about 30% of ZEC’s supply now sits in shielded pools, versus 8% in early 2024, an interesting data point alongside this week’s dev fund debate. The open question the report leaves us with is whether the market ultimately picks proofs over trusted operators.
William M. Peaster
William M. Peaster, Senior Writer, has been with Bankless since January 2021. Immersed in Ethereum since 2017, he covers the onchain frontier with a particular interest in art, games, and other culture apps. He has a background in creative writing and writes fiction in his free time.
