What is ZKC / Boundless?
Boundless (token symbol ZKC) is a universal zero-knowledge (ZK) infrastructure / proving protocol built by the team behind RISC Zero.
Its mission: allow blockchains, applications, and rollups to offload heavy computation and verifiable proofs to an external prover network, while still maintaining security and trust via succinct ZK proofs on chain.
The system separates execution from consensus: many computations happen off-chain (by provers), and then proofs are submitted on chain to validate the results.
It uses a mechanism called Proof of Verifiable Work (PoVW), which rewards provers for useful computational work, measured cryptographically.
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Token Utilities & Use Cases
ZKC plays a central role in the Boundless ecosystem. Its utilities include:
Use Description
Staking / collateral Provers must stake ZKC as collateral before accepting proof jobs; misbehavior can lead to slashing.
Rewards / emissions Provers are rewarded in ZKC for fulfilling proof jobs, based on demand in the prover marketplace.
Governance Token holders can propose and vote on protocol upgrades, parameters, and rules.
Fee payments / market functions Users, dApps, or rollups may use ZKC to pay for proof requests, market interactions, or protocol services.
