Interpreting zkPass: Incubated by BinanceLabs, $12.5M Series A Funding, Will the zkTLS-Powered Oracle Become a Reality?
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Interpreting zkPass: Incubated by BinanceLabs, $12.5M Series A Funding, Will the zkTLS-Powered Oracle Become a Reality?
The uniqueness of zkPass lies in its ability to process and verify private data from any HTTPS website without requiring special cooperation or modifications from these websites.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: TechFlow
If Meme is the big wave in the current market cycle, don't forget to look beneath the surface for emerging new narratives.
Recently, while translating research articles from overseas investment firms and VCs, I've frequently come across a new term: "zkTLS."
Western VCs are often masters of coining terms. But on the flip side, their sensitivity to emerging trends means these new terms can sometimes evolve into significant narratives.
For example, just the other day, Mechanism Capital stated in Why We Believe zkTLS Is an Opportunity Now that “zkTLS is currently just a buzzword,” with only a few real use cases.
But before you ask what zkTLS is, the progress of related projects matters more.
Just yesterday, zkPass—a Binance Labs-incubated oracle project based on zkTLS—announced it has closed a $12.5 million Series A round. Investors include dao5, Animoca Brands, Flow Traders, Amber Group, IOBC Capital, Signum Capital, MH Ventures, and WAGMI Ventures, bringing the project’s total funding to $15 million.
Well, isn’t this the emergence of a concrete use case for zkTLS?
From new technology to concept, and now to actual implementation—what exactly is zkTLS, and what makes zkPass stand out?
When Private Data Can Become an Oracle Data Source
Let’s not define zkTLS yet. First, let’s understand what zkPass does.
In short, zkPass is also an oracle project—an essential bridge transferring real-world data onto the blockchain. However, its core goal is to achieve a seemingly contradictory task:
To make private data a trusted on-chain information source, all while preserving privacy.
In practice, zkPass allows users to prove they possess certain sensitive information without actually revealing the content. This is achieved by cleverly combining zk (zero-knowledge proof) technology with traditional TLS (Transport Layer Security), forming an entirely new method of data verification.
Now you likely understand the meaning of zkTLS mentioned earlier:
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TLS (Transport Layer Security) is the "s" in "HTTPS," securing communication between servers and users.
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zkTLS enables web proofs without compromising privacy. Web proofs are zero-knowledge proofs used to verify the authenticity of information from Web2 data sources.
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A simple example: proving whether someone’s bank balance exceeds $100,000 or whether their average social media likes exceed 100.
(Image source: Decentralised.Co)
With this understanding, you can now see how zkPass differs from previous oracle projects.
Traditional blockchain oracle projects mainly focus on delivering publicly accessible data such as price feeds, weather, or sports results. They face major challenges when handling private or personal data.
zkPass’s uniqueness lies in its ability to process and verify private data from any HTTPS website—without requiring special cooperation or modifications from those websites.
The project’s official site already lists current use cases, including proving user credit scores, financial status, voting choices, medical records, social media metrics, education history, asset ownership, and on-chain achievements—none of which require exposing the underlying sensitive data. This greatly expands the types and applications of data oracles can handle.
Building the Invisibility Cloak for zkTLS
At this point, think of zkPass as using zkTLS technology to give the traditional TLS protocol an invisibility cloak—one that not only secures data transmission but also proves the truth of certain information without revealing the raw data itself.
But having the fabric isn’t enough. How is this invisibility cloak tailored into a finished product? Beyond zkTLS, zkPass has done additional work. Let’s skip deep technical details and quickly break it down:
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Three-Party TLS (3P-TLS): The Foundation of Secure Communication
This creates a secure, eavesdropping-proof tunnel between you, the website, and zkPass. It ensures your data remains safe from interception or tampering during transmission. This is the first line of defense in zkTLS, laying the groundwork for subsequent privacy protection.
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VOLE and VOLEitH Protocols: Lower-Cost Zero-Knowledge Proofs
These complex-sounding protocols are essentially a set of zk algorithms that allow you to prove knowledge of a specific answer without revealing the answer itself.
Compared to commonly known zk-SNARKs used in Rollups, VOLE-ZK offers higher efficiency, faster processing, and lower overhead. This makes it particularly suitable for attesting TLS data. It eliminates the need for trusted setups and avoids the high memory or computational demands typical of SNARK-based proofs, making it feasible even for end-user devices.
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Hybrid Mode: The Swiss Army Knife of Flexibility
This mode functions like a multi-tool, adapting to different scenarios by selecting the most appropriate method. If a website lacks support for advanced features, hybrid mode can dynamically adjust, ensuring zkTLS works under diverse conditions.
Purpose: Adapt to varying network environments and server limitations. Effect: Enables zkPass to seamlessly integrate with existing websites and services without requiring them to modify their infrastructure.
In the end, these three technologies combine like layers of protection. First, 3P-TLS secures data in transit. Then, VOLE and VOLEitH—our "mathematical magic"—allow us to prove facts without disclosing specifics. Finally, hybrid mode ensures the entire system remains robust and adaptable across complex real-world environments.
Bridging Web2 and Web3—with Many Friends
In its own funding announcement post, zkPass made a notable statement:
“Shipping matters more than storytelling”—delivery outweighs narrative. While some projects announce funding while still being shells, public information shows zkPass already has mature solutions and a growing base of enterprise users.
According to the team, over the past two years, the project has focused on developing core technology and driving market adoption. It has integrated over 200 data patterns from more than 70 verified web data sources and is already adopted by over 50 enterprises.
This includes Web2 giants like Uber, Tesla, Duolingo, Steam, and Delta Airlines—companies holding vast amounts of valuable private user data. With zkTLS, these data sources can now securely and privately share information with third parties without compromising user privacy.
Additionally, the partnership list includes major crypto exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Bybit, and MEXC.
Essentially, oracle projects like zkPass have strong glue-like effects—any entity capable of providing data becomes a potential partner.
The more partners, the better—spanning both Web2 and Web3, enabling business growth at scale.
Moreover, zkPass has open-sourced its SDK on GitHub.
Their SDK, called Transgate, allows developers to seamlessly integrate zkPass technology into their own applications.
Current Participation Opportunities
Undoubtedly, this is another foundational infrastructure project—one that supports broader data sources than prior oracles, with greater innovation in security and privacy.
For regular users, what participation opportunities exist with such infrastructure projects today?
Currently, the project website lists various activities run in collaboration with partners, broadly categorized as follows:
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Daily Tasks: Twitter Engagement Users can post any message containing the "#zkPass" hashtag on Twitter, then click the "Attest Now" button on the platform to generate a ZK Attestation (Zero-Knowledge Attestation). Each completed attestation earns 1 $ZKP credit point. The attestation count resets daily at UTC 0:00.
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Account Abstraction on Arbitrum zkPass is exploring Account Abstraction (AA) applications on the Arbitrum network. This ongoing initiative aims to simplify user experience, making blockchain interactions more intuitive and user-friendly.
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Proof of Humanity on Linea XP In collaboration with Linea Verax, zkPass is advancing a "Proof of Humanity" initiative. This project is active and may involve verifying real user identities while preserving privacy.
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$ZKL Airdrop Enhancement via zkLink zkPass has partnered with zkLink to enhance the $ZKL token airdrop using ZK attestation technology. This ongoing activity gives users a better chance to earn more tokens.
Note: The $ZKP credit points function similarly to loyalty points and are expected to be redeemable for the official $ZKP token in the future. Specific rules and mechanics can be found on the project’s official website.
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