Mainframe computing → personal computing.

Here's what we are a changing about blockchain systems and why it matters.

Traditional blockchains are like mainframes, everyone timeshares blockspace, bidding for milliseconds of execution in each block.

It's an auction model where the highest bidders get scarce computational resources, similar to how computing worked in the 1970s.

ZK enables a paradigm shift similar to the PC revolution.

Instead of competing for shared computation time, users compute locally on their own devices, then submit a succinct proof that the computation was performed correctly.

The network no longer re-executes every transaction, it simply verifies mathematical proofs. This architectural change unlocks massive scalability improvements and enables privacy simultaneously.

This fundamentally changes what's possible. Just as the PC revolution enabled applications that would have been impractical on mainframes, ZK enables blockchain applications that would be prohibitively expensive or technically impossible on traditional chains.

Models with millions of parameters, complex game logic with hidden state, and private financial transactions all become possible when we move from the mainframe model to the personal computing model.

This is why @AleoHQ has built from first principles rather than adding ZK as an afterthought to existing architectures. The future isn't just faster mainframes, it's a completely new computing paradigm.