Zero-knowledge proofs are a strictly mathematical method to show that certain computations have been performed correctly, without revealing the data itself. This is not magic or belief: it is a way to verify the fulfillment of conditions without disclosing the inputs.

Initially, cryptography was based on ciphers like DES — relatively simple symmetric schemes. With the development of computing technology, resilient solutions based on the mathematics of prime numbers were needed: thus RSA emerged (based on the difficulty of factoring large numbers).

Later, for speed and mobility, AES (for symmetric encryption) and ECC (elliptic curves) were adopted for asymmetric schemes, such as ECDSA (signatures).

At the core of ECC is the work with polynomials over fields of prime numbers, where direct computations are very simple, but inverses are extremely difficult.

ZK-proofs use even more advanced structures — such as proof reductions through polynomial equations — to verify huge computations without revealing intermediate data.

Complex schemes like SNARK are constructed in such a way that knowledge of one part of the secret without complete execution of the computations is impossible. #zec #zcash $ZEC