ZKP-focused blockchain Gevulot raises $6M in seed funding

Gevulot, a blockchain solution focusing on zero-knowledge proofs, recently announced that it had raised $6 million in a seed funding round.

This capital-raising round was led by Variant and saw participation from renowned investors such as RockawayX, Volt Capital and Staking Facilities. The Layer-1 solution also received support from individual investors such as Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron and Manta Network founder Shumo Chu. Gevulot’s total valuation following the funding round was not disclosed to the public.

Gevulot said it would use the funds to release its Layer-1 blockchain, which will allow developers to create and deploy zero-knowledge-proof smart contracts. The Layer-1 solution, the core feature of the Gevulot platform, will also allow developers to interact with other blockchains through cross-chain bridges.

Gevulot’s Layer-1 blockchain comes with a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. This zero-knowledge proof-focused blockchain aims to allow developers to mine zero-knowledge proofs while delegating computing tasks to a network of hardware operators. Gevulot argues that this model of operation could bring about a revolution in how developers create scalable, private and secure applications.

In recent years, zero-knowledge-proof solutions have gained traction and become a recurring buzzword in the blockchain space, thanks to its efficient data verification model. The zero-knowledge proof technology has found itself being featured on decentralized exchanges, identity verification systems and voting systems, among others.

Gevulot also aims to deploy its own developer-focused network or devnet. Through this restricted test network Gevulot aims to facilitate developers with a space where they can test and experiment with the features and functionalities of the Gevulot platform. In exchange, Gevulot hopes to receive feedback and suggestions for improvement.

The launch of the devnet will be made possible through partnerships with staking validation services such as P2P.org, Supranational, Staking Facilities and RockawayX Infrastructure, who will provide the hardware and software infrastructure and help the platform optimize its performance and security.

Excited to announce that Variant has led a seed round for @gevulot_network, a new decentralized marketplace for zero knowledge proofshttps://t.co/5T5CRY65ap

— Alana Levin (@AlanaDLevin) January 29, 2024

How Gevulot plans to deliver its solutions

Gevulot will design its deployed programs to generate evidence, which will have to be verified by the aforementioned network of hardware operators. Following this, the proofs will integrate into blocks. Gevulot’s blockchain blocks comprise mainly of proofs. This is in contrast with the traditional smart contract state transitions found in other Layer-1 blockchains.

“Gevulot is built as a layer-one general-purpose proof network that allows anyone to deploy provers or verifiers on-chain. It’s a straightforward process similar to deploying or interacting with a smart contract,” Variant said in a statement while announcing its investment in Gevulot.

Community response

Gevulot’s announcement received a warm welcome from the crypto community, with analysts claiming that the seed funding round was a significant milestone. They believe that Gevulot could serve as a role model for the development of scalable blockchain applications.

The crypto community especially highlights Gevulot’s distinct system from other Layer-1 blockchains. On the Gravulot blockchain, verified proofs are integrated into blocks, a method believed to be more efficient than the traditional data verification model.

The community is also checking out several resources released by Gevulot on GitHub. By making these resources available to the public, Gevulot hopes to facilitate further testing while demonstrating its capabilities.

Among the resources released by Gevulot are demos of Starkware STARK, Filecoin SNARK, Marlin and Ed25519 provers, all of which operate within the Gevulot environment. These provers also come with verifier programs for testing. The blockchain also released resources pertaining to the Gevulot environment, which are configured as a Nanos unikernel. These also come with instructions for compiling and running a prover, both locally and on the cloud.